CARTAGENA, Colombia – The LTE roll out across Latin America will be driven by telecom operators looking to create new revenues, to increase their capacity and to reduce costs. These were the main topics citied as LTE opportunities by experts during this week’s Andicom event (check out all stories).
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“LTE will be the most successful technology, considering the lower number of years to mass-market uptake. And according to our research, 32% of telecom operators want to adopt LTE to create new revenues,” noted Marceli Passoni, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, speaking on stage.
A new report by Informa showed that more than 60% of Latin America’s telecom operators are planning to launch LTE in the next two years, with 30% launching this year and nearly one-third going to market next year.
As noted by Bob Calaff, T-Mobile’s director for spectrum and technology strategy, LTE is the future, but, in the meantime, HSPA+ will dominate in the middle term. Among opportunities for carriers, he noted better performance, network operational efficiencies and also potential new revenue sources.
“LTE will not only be an evolution, but a huge transformation and the beginning of a new market, characterized by data usage,” said Juan Carlos Archila, Claro’s president.
Panelists also noted mobile applications and adding value to mobile cloud as factors that will contribute to boosting LTE roll outs, while they noted that operators will have to deal with the coexistence of LTE networks and legacy technologies.
To better understand the LTE roll out in Latin America, download RCR Wireless News’feature report in English or Spanish. Based on interviews with carriers, vendors and analysts, this in-depth report shows the current stage and future steps in deploying the next generation of telecommunications throughout Latin America.
