Competition between communication service providers and over-the-top players could be set to change. According to Ovum’s “Telco-OTT Tracker” survey, Latin American telecom operators are increasing the number of partnership deals signed with OTT players.
The tracker counted more than 500 deals across 11 categories on all continents. In the LatAm region, there was a significant increase. Between 2010 and 2014, Ovum counted 32 deals, whereas last year there were only 24 deals.
Worldwide, there have been 557 such deals since 2010. The categories most common for the partnerships are music services (21.5%), social media (21%), video services (19.7%), messaging (13.6%) and voice over IP (10.1%).
Video consumption
As Brazilians buy more smartphones, video consumption has also increased. Ericsson noted that consumers with larger smartphones tended to watch more video. In addition, platforms such as Spotify and Netflix drive heavy usage. Weekly, 52% of users in Brazil watch short videos, while 35% of users watch full videos. In 2012, people spent an average of four hours per week watching videos, which has since increased to an average of six hours per week.
More Latin American news:
Mexico – América Móvil is set to remove roaming charges on calls and data in the United States, Reuters reported. The measure, which can impact 40 million Mexican prepaid clients, is targeted at a competing offer from AT&T Mobiity, which has recently entered the Mexican market and boosted competition.
Brazil – Brazilian carrier Oi posted total net revenues of R$6.5 billion ($1.9 billion) in the second quarter of 2015, a 5.5& year-over-year decrease. The drop was impacted by the MTR decline and reduction in handset revenue. Consolidated net earnings, including the discontinuation of the operations of PT Portugal SGPS, came in at R$671 million, with analysts taking the profit as a good sign from the carrier.
LatAm – América Móvil could be considering expanding its business in Eastern Europe, as CFO Carlos García Moreno told local press. Moreno compared Eastern Europe to Latin America, pointing out similarities between the two regions.
Brazil – Government regulator Anatel approved plans to auction spectrum in the 1.8 GHz, 1.9 GHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz bands. The proposal is set to be submitted to a public hearing.
Colombia – A new report by Dataxis said Colombia recorded $7.99 billion in telecom revenues during 2014. The report forecasts revenues will grow by 8.1% in 2018, hitting $8.64 billion. By the end of 2014, the mobile market represented 74% of the total telecom revenue recorded, a figure that Dataxis estimates will grow to 78.4% in 2018. Colombia had 51.3 million active SIM cards at the end of 2014. The company estimates the market will grow to 55.6 million SIM cards in 2018, with “4G” accounting for 83% of the market.
LatAm – According to Pyramid Research, fiber optic cables will reach 5.1 million connections in Latin America by the end of 2015. Despite the growth, XDSL connections remains dominant. Fiber connections are set to account for 6.9% of broadband lines (5.1 million lines) by the end of 2015, up from 5.1% in 2014.
Chile – Telecom regulator Subtel is set to begin taking bids for the implementation of free Wi-Fi services across 12 regions as part of the government’s Wi-Fi ChileGo initiative.
Brazil – 4G Americas estimates Brazil will have 150 million LTE lines by 2019. If that’s correct it will be a huge increase from the 11.9 million current 4G lines.
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