BUENOS AIRES, Argentina-A year after the launch of mobile Internet services in South America, almost all the cellular telephony operators are offering Internet services, although exclusively in the major cities of the region and without generating profits.
Entel PCS of Chile is the most advanced, because it has been the only carrier to offer mobile commerce through an agreement with Coca-Cola. This has transformed the cellular phone into a portable communications terminal. As another example, Movicom BellSouth users in Argentina have access to a location-based service that lets them know where they can find the closest pharmacies and automated teller machines (ATMs).
In December, an m-commerce service was inaugurated in Santiago, Chile, whereby Entel PCS users can purchase drinks in 60 vending machines located in the main shopping centers in Santiago. It is accomplished with short messages sent from mobile phones and at no extra cost for the service to users. The price of the soft drink is added to a user’s phone bill.
Jose Luis Poch, Entel’s marketing manager, commented, “This agreement with Coca-Cola is an important step toward transforming the mobile phone into a useful tool that can be used not only to communicate, but to improve people’s lives.”
Wireless infrastructure vendor Motorola said that by 2002, there will be more “surfers” connected to the Internet from mobile terminals than PCs in Chile.
The first cellular telephony operator in the region that introduced mobile Internet was Movicom BellSouth of Argentina in March 2000. A year after the launch, a contact within the company said, “For now, mobile Internet is a promise. The business has yet to be constructed.”
The current stage could be defined as a “market testing,” because there are no precedents, and the expected revenue is not being generated. Most operators are not charging for the service to encourage early adopters to give it a try.
Telecom Personal, a cellular telephony operator in Argentina will migrate its network from TDMA to GSM/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology. Santiago Lacase, external communications manager, said, “In the year 2000, the company developed Internet Personal, a set of services that integrate the world of Internet with Personal’s mobile telephony.” He added that once the new network is inaugurated during the second half of this year, the company plans to offer broadband mobile Internet with m-commerce applications.
Newcomers
Mobile Internet gives newcomers the opportunity to distinguish themselves from established operators, because they come into the market with a completely digital network and terminals ready to provide advanced services. Companies in this situation include Nuevatel, Vox and Smartcom, among others.
In Bolivia, Nuevatel launched a GSM/GPRS service in January 2001, making it the first carrier in the Americas to offer GPRS service. Thanks to an agreement with Nokia, it will “introduce during the second trimester, services such as image messaging, chat applications and mobile portals,” said Pete Simpson, president of Nuevatel.
In Paraguay, Vox is in a similar situation. This operator began to offer cellular telephony mid-year last year with a GSM network and developed a series of innovative services in mobile Internet. One of the most-used services is the horoscope.
“The user sends his/her date of birth to the system, and the system responds with the daily horoscope prediction,” explained Sergio Vel zquez, submanager of marketing for Vox.
Smartcom PCS of Chile was able to triple its client base during 2000, increasing its user numbers from 78,000 to 270,000. According to General Manager Jaime Gros, the jump is attributed to the fact that “80 percent of the phones the company has in the market come with an incorporated microbrowser, which allows a large part of our clients access to this new service.”
Beyond technological migrations and the replacement of terminals, the mobile Internet is expanding throughout the region. Once the test phase comes to an end, most likely in March or April, operators expect it to start generating genuine revenue.
