Americas

Latin America and mobile data were the main drivers of Telefónica Group’s revenue during the first nine months of 2011. Telefónica Latinoamérica reported an 8.1% rise in revenue compared with the same period last year, accounting for 46% of the group total; mobile data revenue rose 19.6%.

In an interview with RCR Wireless News, Eduardo Levy, executive director of telecom union SindiTelebrasil, evaluates the effect of Rio de Janeiro’s new rules on towers on Brazil’s telecom landscape.

Qualcomm is looking to take advantage of Latin America’s relatively modest 3G penetration rates to boost its influence and revenues in the region. As part of this, Qualcomm said it was …

Global Tower Partners, a U.S.-based provider of outsourced antenna site facilities, announced the purchase of 250 towers from Centennial Towers CR, SRL. The towers were constructed and are currently occupied …

Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay launched HSPA+ commercial networks during the first week of November, bringing Latin America’s total of HSPA networks in the region to 66, with 25 now upgraded …

Latin American telecoms are gearing up to upgrade their infrastructure to support IPv6 as the supply of IPv4 addresses nears its end. For instance, mobile operator TIM has spent $740,000 on its networks in Brazil to prepare for the migration to the newer protocol.

Paraguay’s government has launched an ambitious National Telecommunications Plan aimed at increasing broadband access nationwide, among other goals, in part by calling for investment of $150 million a year until 2015.

Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly feature, Analyst Angle. We’ve collected a group of the industry’s leading analysts to give their outlook on the hot topics in the wireless industry. Over the …

With Brazil growing into prosperity, is the country of the future finally arriving? Yes, say experts, but Brazil must make more progress to become more competitive.

Brazil’s information and communications technology market could reach U.S. $400 billion by 2022, according to Brasscom, thanks to several major factors boosting the country’s telecom transformation.

A consortium including Mexico’s TV Azteca and Total Play has won a $640 million auction deal to provide a fiber-optic network in Colombia.

Brazil’s Oi Group says it has obtained a revolving credit facility worth U.S. $1 billion to reinforce its cash position in coming years.

In Brazil, the city of Rio de Janeiro has new rules for installing radio base stations sites. The city is establishing a series of stricter rules for telecoms towers, both …

Chile’s secretary of telecommunications (Subtel) is set to schedule an auction of 4G spectrum, which will enable LTE deployment in the country. Subtel has yet to spell out its requirements …

Ask chief information officers about their enterprise resource planning system, and they will probably refer to it not as ERP, but as SAP, using the name of German enterprise software …

Nearly 9 in 10 Latin American companies recognize the growing importance of mobile technologies, and almost 70% plan to increase their spending on such technology, according to a recent Motorola …

The Brazilian government named João Batista de Rezende to a two-year term as president of Anatel, the country’s telecommunications regulator. Rezende will replace Ronaldo Sardenberg, Anatel’s president since 2009. Among …

Thanks to its growing subscriber base, Brazil’s second largest wireless carrier, TIM, saw its profit double in the third quarter from the same period a year ago. TIM Participações S.A. …

Brazilian carrier Oi recently announced the start of a shared broadband Wi-Fi project in Rio de Janeiro. The Wi-Fi project will begin with about 150 hot spots in the Ipanema …

Latin America’s share of worldwide information technology spending is on the rise, according to research firm Gartner Inc. By the end of this year, IT spending in Latin America will …

Contrary to what we might have once believed, the mobile phone is the vehicle that will become the basis of all convergent channels. Before, it was thought that this main vehicle would be the TV or even the computer, but the mobile phone has won this battle — not only with its incredible growth in units but also because these small devices incorporate more tech features every day.

Costa Rica’s telecom monopoly is coming to an end. The nation’s telecommunications regulator Sutel has granted mobile operators Claro (Carlos Slim’s América Móvil) and Telefónica’s Movistar the mobile numbers they …

Brazilian carrier Oi posted a 21% decrease in third quarter net profits from a year ago to $249 million. Net revenues dropped 1.9% over the same time frame to $4 …

América Móvil (AMX) saw its net profits drop 21% during the third quarter compared to the same period in 2010, which the carrier attributed to the exchange rate and lower …

NII Holdings (NIHD) said it’s planned 3G launches were on track. Nextel’s owner unveiled push-to-talk service on a W-CDMA platform in Peru last month. The 3G launch in Mexico and …