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:
- Aicent, a provider of mobile data network services and solutions for global mobile operators, announced the deployment of its LTE roaming exchange with ten Latin American and Caribbean mobile operators, including the first commercial LTE roaming deployment by a mobile operator in Brazil.
- Comba Telecom has been chosen as an official wireless coverage supplier for the FIFA 2014 World Cup. The company will cover four arenas and implement 1,500 antennas. The total investment is estimated to be $30.2 million.
- Chile is abolishing national long distance charges. Phone calls currently billed as national long distance will be considered local starting next year, according to a new law passed by the Chilean congress.
- In Honduras, a spectrum auction is expected to generate about $36 million for the Honduran government by the end of this year.
- Paraguay’s Conatel announced it will deploy wireless Internet connections at 50 sites across 37 municipalities.
- PayPal has launched a pilot mobile payment project in São Paulo. Users can check into the PayPal app within a store, shop, confirm the credit card payment linked to their PayPal account and receive a proof of payment via e-mail.
- Brazil’s Internet broadband accesses reached 117.8 million connections at the end of September, according to the industry association Telebrasil. Fixed broadband accounted for 21.5 million connections while mobile broadband represented the large majority.
- The Mexican government is planning to auction off the 15,534 mile telecommunications network owned by the Federal Electricity Commission, or CFE, to a private company.
- Cablevision Argentina has upgraded its national network with Ciena. The cable TV and Internet provider is deploying Ciena’s 6500 Packet-Optical Platform to upgrade the inter-urban broadband backbone across Argentina.
- ZTE won a contract for the third phase of a gigabit passive optical network capacity expansion with Uruguay regulator Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones.
- CBS Studios International and Latin American operator Claro announced a multi-year, non-exclusive deal to bring CBS programs to Claro’s video-on-demand platform in Latin America and the Caribbean beginning next year.
