Vivo, the Brazilian unit of Spain-based Telefónica, said it has increased its machine-to-machine accesses by 2.5-times in a period of one year (from May 2011 to May 2012). Although M2M applications are just starting to be adopted in the Latin American region, including in Brazil, Vivo’s VP for the corporate segment, Estanislau Bassols, said that the carrier has worked to improve its offerings, and it is unveiling new M2M platforms.

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Bassols spoke to members of the press during this week’s Connected Living Latam Summit held in São Paulo. In addition to Vivo’s current services, he noted the company’s move toward a new sales approach which will bring the operator closer to its customers, eliminating intermediaries. “The production chain is more complex in the M2M environment, but this approach will decrease the number of contacts between the product and users,” he said.

Currently, Vivo’s M2M services focus on large vehicle tracking, point of sale and utilities (water and electricity metering). Bassols said there will be an additional service for vehicle tracking focused on small cars and vehicle fleet management.

Among future M2M market opportunities, Bassols mentioned mHealth projects focused on monitoring patients with chronic illnesses, though he added it still needed regulatory support.

The Latin American region is expected to account for $92 billion of the total, potential worldwide revenue of $1.2 trillion for mobile network operators in 2020 with M2M applications. The barriers to growth include regulations and the creation of a complex ecosystem which requires many stakeholders and partnerships.