Tagged in: Latin America (Includes the Caribbean)
Peru to launch mobile spectrum auction
Peru’s Private Investment Promotion Agency (ProInversión) is preparing to launch a bidding process for 25MHz of spectrum in the 1900MHz band, known as Band C and suitable for 3G services. With the new licence, the government hopes to attract a … Continue reading
Convergence is the way in Latin America
Latin America’s vertically integrated telecom market, convergence has become a popular solution not only for companies, as a way to attract more customers, but also for regulators, as a way to promote competition. In most countries, the incumbents continue to … Continue reading
Ecuador advances in Broadband Powerline (BPL)
Ecuador advances in Broadband Powerline (BPL) For a small country, Ecuador has been surprisingly active in the development of BPL. Two power companies offer commercial broadband services over BPL and fibre optic cables. The number of subscribers remains small, but … Continue reading
Argentina prepares for Number Portability
In Argentina, Article 30 of Decree 764/2000 recognised consumers’ right to both mobile and fixed-line Number Portability (NP). Notwithstanding, NP has yet to be enforced in the country. As a first step towards implementing NP, in January 2009 Secom created … Continue reading
Argentina’s new media law
In October 2009, the Argentine senate passed a controversial Audio-Visual Communications Law proposed by President Cristina Fernandez, who claimed it would open the broadcasting market to new players, promote competition, and restrict monopolistic trends in the Argentine market. This new … Continue reading
Argentina’s telecom cooperatives become MVNOs
Argentina’s two major associations of telecom cooperatives, Cooperativas de Telecomunicaciones (Fecotel) and Federación de Cooperativas del Sur (Fecosur) have decided to enter the mobile telephone market as Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNO), although Fecotel may still be interested in bidding … Continue reading
Broadband Argentina’s fastest growing telecom sector
Argentina has one of the most solid state-of-the-art telecom infrastructures in Latin America. In 2009, despite the economic downturn, telecom revenues were up by 11% year on year. Broadband revenues enjoyed the highest growth rate, followed by mobile telephony. Argentina’s … Continue reading
Ecuador: A golden opportunity – opening up the network
While in the past Andinatel and Pacifictel were inefficient and riddled with corruption, there are hopes that CNT will perform more competently and transparently. In other Latin American countries where the incumbent is state-owned, such as Uruguay and Costa Rica, … Continue reading
Telecom Argentina – legal disputes and antitrust issues
Telecom Argentina has been under cross-holding scrutiny since rival operator Telefónica acquired a stake in its parent Telecom Italia (TI). The government ordered Telecom Italia to sell its stake in Telecom Argentina, but this order was overturned by an Argentinean … Continue reading
Puerto Rico’s mobile market developments
At the beginning of 2010, Puerto Rico’s unemployment rate had fallen to 16.5%, the highest level since 1931 during the Great Depression. The economic downturn was felt in the telecommunications sectors, yet the industry, in particular the mobile and data … Continue reading