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LatAm Wrap-Up: Nextel to launch LTE in some cities; Colombia prepares $53M tender to expand Internet

When NII Holdings reported its third quarter results. The carrier, which is also known as Nextel in Latin America, also announced plans to deploy LTE in select cities in 2014.

According to NII Holdings CEO Steve Shindler, the move to launch LTE services is designed to further enhance the company’s competitive position. The carrier did not disclose the selected locations or in which frequency band it would deploy LTE.

“These and other initiatives are designed to accelerate subscriber and revenue growth and put us on a path to delivering stronger operational results in 2014,” said Shindler. The LTE launches are part of the carrier’s “Project Accelerate,” which aims to intensify and refocus previously planned initiatives to stimulate growth in 2014.

The company reported a net loss of 178,000 customers, resulting in an ending subscriber base of 9.7 million, inline with the subscriber base at the end of the third quarter last year. Consolidated operating revenues were $1.1 billion for the quarter, down 22% from the level reported in the third quarter of 2012. Consolidated adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization, which excludes the impact of non-cash asset impairment, restructuring and other non-recurring or unusual charges, was $52 million, a 78% decline compared to the same period last year.

Auction: The Colombian government wants to increase Internet coverage in the country. The Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications published a draft tender of a project that seeks to bring Internet access to more low-income families and public institutions. The project is set to cost approximately $53 million and seeks operators who will be responsible for executing the design, installation, operation, administration and maintenance of fixed or mobile network infrastructure for the provision of broadband services in 924 municipalities.

The draft tender includes providing Internet access to 100,000 government-provided homes. Another obligation for the chosen operators is to provide Internet access with Wi-Fi for established public areas in each of the municipalities of the project.

700 MHz: The Chilean government estimated that costs of obligations for the carriers that win spectrum in the 700 MHz auction will reach $250 million. Three blocks of frequencies will be up for bid: one 30-megahertz block and two 20-megahertz blocks. Carriers need to present their bids by Jan. 13, 2014.

The minister of transport and telecommunications, Pedro Pablo Errázuriz, said that the auction will improve competition.

Firefox OS expansion: Following Telefónica Vivo’s Brazilian launch of two Firefox OS devices, the LG Fireweb and Alcatel Onetouch Fire, the carrier announced that the devices are now available in Peru, Uruguay and Mexico. The operating system is the result of two years of joint development by Telefónica Digital and Mozilla. The Firefox OS devices are already available in Spain, Colombia and Venezuela.

More news from the Latin American region:

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Roberta Prescott
Roberta Prescott
Editor, [email protected] Roberta Prescott is responsible for Latin America reporting news and analysis, interviewing key stakeholders. Roberta has worked as an IT and telecommunication journalist since March 2005, when she started as a reporter with InformationWeek Brasil magazine and its website IT Web. In July 2006, Prescott was promoted to be the editor-in-chief, and, beyond the magazine and website, was in charge for all ICT products, such as IT events and CIO awards. In mid-2010, she was promoted to the position of executive editor, with responsibility for all the editorial products and content of IT Mídia. Prescott has worked as a journalist since 1998 and has three journalism prizes. In 2009, she won, along with InformationWeek Brasil team, the press prize 11th Prêmio Imprensa Embratel. In 2008, she won the 7th Unisys Journalism Prize and in 2006 was the editor-in-chief when InformationWeek Brasil won the 20th media award Prêmio Veículos de Comunicação. She graduated in Journalism by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas, has done specialization in journalism at the Universidad de Navarra (Spain, 2003) and Master in Journalism at IICS – Universidad de Navarra (Brazil, 2010) and MBA – Executive Education at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.