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Latin America’s 3G or 4G coverage to reach 90% by 2020

by Roberta Prescott
written by Roberta Prescott Share
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3G and 4G expansion

The smartphone base will grow in the Latin American and Caribbean regions reaching 603 million by 2020, according to the latest Ericsson Mobility Report.

The region will add 330 million smartphone subscriptions between 2014 and 2020. The Asia Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa will add the most.

Along with those other growing regions, Latin America and the Caribbean will move from mainly GSM/EDGE-only markets to WCDMA/GSM and LTE. The share of 3G/4G subscriptions will jump from 40% in 2014 to 90% in 2020.

Smartphone usage will impact data traffic directly, helping it grow sevenfold by 2020. Monthly smartphone data consumption per active subscription in the region will rise from 0.8 GB to 3GB — but still much lower compared with North America at 14 GB.

More news from the Latin American region:
MEXICO – Axtel has signed an agreement with affiliates of Telefónica México in which the parties agree to terminate various disputes related to interconnection services for the period of 2005-2011. Concurrently, Axtel and Telefónica México signed a commercial agreement related to telecommunications infrastructure.

PERU – More than 60,000 users chose to change service providers in May while keeping their numbers, according to the regulator Osiptel. Since last July, when number portability was launched in Peru, a total of 440,172 users have decided to use it.

BRAZIL – Nextel, the local brand owned by NII Holdings, announced changes in its packages, evidence of its ambitious plan to gain ground in the postpaid market. Currently, Nextel has 2 million 3G and 4G customers in Brazil.

BRAZIL – The Spanish telecom group Telefónica has reportedly closed the acquisition of Vivendi’s broadband assets GVT in Brazil.

LATAM – DirecTV is expanding its satellite fleet in both the U.S. and Latin America with the launch of two new spacecraft. The goal is to increase HD capacity.

Wondering what’s going on in Latin America? Why don’t you follow me on Twitter? Also check out all of RCR Wireless News’ Latin American content.

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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.

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