In its latest Mobility Report, Ericsson predicts mobile subscriptions across Latin America and the Caribbean will surge from 740 million this year to 850 million in 2021, at which point W-CDMA/HSPA technologies are expected to be the dominant technology accounting for 50% of total subscriptions.
In its report, Ericsson notes across the region “mobile subscription penetration has reached 115%, with most of its countries above 100%, however mobile broadband still has a long way to go in order to reach the vast majority of the population.”
The company predicts smartphones will represent 75% of the region’s total base (640 million connections), and consequently data traffic per active smartphone will jump from 1.2 gigabytes per month in 2015, to 6 GB per month in 2021. Total mobile traffic is expected to surge from 500 petabytes per month this year to 3.5 exabytes per month in 2021.
Indeed, as more lower-priced smartphones are launched, consumer demand for those connected devices is set to increase. The survey showed over-the-top application WhatsApp leads the region in monthly active users across Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The report notes smartphones are already as popular as personal computers (laptops and desktops) for connecting to the Internet, and users tend to use both Wi-Fi and mobile broadband for connectivity when using smartphones.
Also, Ericsson’s report claims smartphones are gaining popularity as devices for watching video. The firm stated “data intensive apps, such as video streaming, place high demands on the network and many consumers are building a perception of network performance based on how well these apps perform.” As an example, Ericsson said in Brazil, video streaming is twice as important as Web browsing for driving network quality perception.
As for spectrum, Ericsson said by 2020, additional spectrum will be required for the introduction of “5G” technologies and noted LTE carrier aggregation is rapidly emerging as a way to achieve higher data throughputs by combining wireless spectrum bands.
IoT push
Brazilian carrier Oi and Nokia Networks signed a memorandum of understanding to develop projects and test technologies for the “Internet of Things.” One of the initiatives is the creation of a laboratory located in Rio de Janeiro where they plan to work with machine-to-machine LTE-M solutions. The lab is scheduled to go live next year and is set to integrate members of universities, researchers and the telecom industry to develop an IoT ecosystem in Brazil. As a result, Oi is looking to launch commercial IoT solutions over the next year.
More news from Latin America
Brazil — According to the The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics reported the telecom services growth rate so far this year was at .8%, with a 1.3% accumulative growth rate over the past 12 months. However the rate dropped 2.4% in September.
Region — Telecom services provider Cable & Wireless Communications is set to be acquired by international cable television provider Liberty Global in a deal valued at approximately 3.5 billion euros ($5.3 billion). In a statement, CWC noted by joining forces the companies “combine high growth assets in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the scale and complementary skills of a truly world class global player.”
