Colombia’s Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications has received six applications from telecom operators interested in participating in the frequency band auction aimed at deploying LTE across the country. The interested firms were DirecTV, Avantel, ETB, Claro, Telefónica and a consortium of companies led by Mexico’s Azteca 4G. Of note was the  absence of applications [...]

Uruguay is the latest Latin American country to move forward with LTE. After Colombia announced it had set an LTE auction date for June 26, Uruguay’s Regulatory Unit of Communications Services (URSEC) released that América Móvil’s Claro and Telefónica’s Movistar have paid a total of U.S.$64 million for spectrum awarded in its recent auction. Movistar took [...]

Colombia’s ministry of technology and communications (Mintic) has released the latest numbers for the country’s telecommunication industry. Internet broadband connections in Colombia have reached 6.2 million, while there are now 49.06 million mobile subscribers, meaning that there are 105 lines per 100 inhabitants. Follow us at  Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our free periodic newsletters In the fourth quarter of last [...]

Latin American mobile markets may not grow at the double digit rates they have in the past. Many counties have reached more than 100% penetration, and as penetration increases, the market becomes more saturated. This does not mean, however, that the region won’t grow. Mobile broadband and LTE deployments are expected to push the telecom [...]

While dominated by the two largest Latin American telecom companies, Telefónica’s Movistar and América Móvil’s Claro, Peru’s wireless market still holds promise. It is a highly competitive market with room to grow in several areas.  The telecom sector is already a key pillar of Peru’s economy, accounting for U.S.$5 billion in revenue. In the near [...]

Forget about the convergence of telecommunications, enterprise communications and information technology. We are entering the era of multi-industry convergence according to Fernando Belfort, team leader for IT at Frost & Sullivan. ”Seventy-five percent of disruptive innovation is generated in the white spaces between industries,” Belfort said. Still, the question remains: how to monetize emerging opportunities? Discussing [...]

The Brazilian regulator Anatel’s telecom numbers for 2012 included some interesting highlights: 3G connections increased and both pre-paid and GSM shares decreased in Brazil. Plus for the first time, Nextel was included in Anatel’s rankings. Last year, a little more than 19.5 million new mobile lines were added in Brazil for a total of 261.78 million mobile [...]

A new report from Arieso shows that throughout Latin America, network operators are experiencing a “perfect storm.” According to the  report, there are substantial growth rates for mobile data consumption in Latin America, although most networks have been designed and optimized only for voice. Follow RCR Wireless News—Americas on Twitter, Facebook and subscribe to our free periodic newsletters This [...]

This won’t be the year that near field communication (NFC) takes off in Latin America, since short message service (SMS) solutions are likely to see increased adoption. Although Frost & Sullivan chose mobile payments as one of the region’s telecom trends for 2013, Renato Pasquini, team leader for telecommunications, said in a webinar this week [...]

As 2012 ends, let’s take a look at some of the leading Latin American telecom stories for the year. Below is a list of the most viewed articles in 2012, but first, let’s examine some of the major topics for the region. LTE deployment certainly was the hottest issue in Latin America this year—and it [...]