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Antel make a move to compete with Movistar, Claro (Uruguay)

  • August 18th, 2008
  • 7:37 am

According to local media report, Administracion Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (Antel), Uruguay’s state-owned telecommunications company, is interested in taking part in an alliance of regional communication companies. The aim is to have better way to compete against foreign multinationals such as Movistar and Claro. According to Antel’s president Edgardo Carvalho, the company has held meetings with executives of Brazilian group Oi, which is currently undergoing a merger process, after acquiring its competitor Brasil Telecom. The new company is seeking strategic South American allies to form an important conglomerate, able to compete against Claro and Movistar, Carvalho revealed.

Chile’s mobile market profile (Chile)

  • August 11th, 2008
  • 2:08 pm

Chile has lost its South American leadership in terms of mobile penetration, which is now ruled by Argentina and Uruguay, but its mobile market remains strong,  with an average of nine out of ten people owning a mobile phone. After 10 years of slippage, it can be seen that it’s mobile ARPU is rising, due to expanding mobile data services and growth in post paid client ratios.

Telefónica’s Movistar, Entel PCS, and América Móvil’s Claro are engaged in a cut throat competition for mobile market share. All three operators have launched 3G networks using their existing spectrum, while the government prepares to launch a 3G auction. Chile provides over 65 operational and financial metrics for the Chile wireless market.

Notable highlights of the 2Q08 Chile Mobile Forecast:

    * It is forecasted that the level of wireless penetration in Chile will continue increasing to reach 104% in 2010. This will be the second highest wireless penetration level in Latin America after Argentina (109% in 2010). The number of total subscribers in Chile will increase from the projected 16 million to 18 million in the forecast period, 2008 - 2010.
    * The two largest operators - Movistar Chile and Entel Chile - are losing subscribers to Claro Chile. From 2008 to 2010, the mobile market share (by subscribers) of Claro Chile will increase from 19.6% to 21% while that of Movistar Chile decreases from 42.9% to 41.5% and that of Entel Chile decreases from 38% to 37.3%.
    * It is believed that Entel Chile will receive the highest ARPU in the country in 2010, and it is predicting a slightly higher ARPU for Entel at US$ 20.21 per month (previously US$ 18.52 per month)

   

American Movil to begin iPhone sales in 10 countries across Latin America

  • August 7th, 2008
  • 7:23 am

American Movil, largest operator in Latin America, announced that it would begin selling Apple iPhone this month in ten countries of Latin America.

According to American Movil, the new iPhone will be available from August 22 in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay.

It was in May that the company signed a deal for iPhone distribution across Latin America.

America Movil has already started sale of the device in Mexico and its Brazilian unit Claro is expected to begin sales soon.

   

Mobile market passes 100% penetration rate (Uruguay)

  • June 16th, 2008
  • 2:50 pm

According to data released by GSM association 3G Americas, wireless penetration in Uruguay has passed the 100% mark. 991,000 new customers were added in the twelve months to the end of March 2008, bringing the overall subscriber base to 3.5 million and giving Uruguay the highest penetration rate in Latin America. Although 3G services were launched last year, take-up has been less than impressive, with only 8,000 customers to date.End of the first quarter of 2008 state-owned Ancel claimed 39.7% of the wireless subscriber market, ahead of Telefonica’s Movistar with 35.5% and America Movil-backed Claro with 24.8%.

   

 
 

Personal and Ancel ink 3G roaming agreement (Argentina)

  • January 16th, 2008
  • 7:49 am

Argentinian cellco Personal has revealed in a statement that it has signed a 3G roaming agreement with Ancel of Uruguay. The Telecom Argentina subsidiary will offer its customers 3G services in Montevideo, Colonia, Punta del Este, Maldonado and Durazno over Ancel’s W-CDMA network. Ancel launched 3G services last July following investment of USD20 million while Personal initiated similar services last May. According to BNamericas, current coverage of Personal’s W-CDMA network extends to Buenos Aires, Rosario, Cordoba and coastal cities such as Mar del Plata. It expects to have one million 3G customers by mid-2009, Personal’s marketing director Guillermo Rivaben said previously.

   

 

Antel plans to replace Ruralcel infrastructure (Uruguay)

  • October 5th, 2007
  • 3:15 pm

BNamericas reports that Uruguayan state-run telco Antel plans to replace all the equipment of its rural mobile service Ruralcel by the end of 2009. Antel’s vice president Edgardo Carvalho said that his firm is deploying new base stations to expand its GSM mobile coverage and replace its legacy AMPS/D-AMPS network. The incumbent currently has over 600 base stations nationwide, of which over 400 are GSM, covering almost 70% of the territory and up to 97% of the population. Carvalho added that the company is focusing on providing connectivity in isolated areas of the country.

   

 

 

Antel’s rate cuts ‘benefit low income users most’ (Uruguay)

  • September 26th, 2007
  • 1:27 pm

The lowest income customers of Uruguay’s state-owned telco Antel stand to benefit the most from a recent 8% cut in the basic monthly fee,quoting a government statement. There are some 100,000 subscribers, about 10% of Antel’s fixed line customer base, paying no more than the basic monthly fee, which includes 50 call credits. ‘They have no additional charges for telephony traffic. This is why the rate cut had more impact in this segment, as they only pay the monthly rate,’ said company manager Osvaldo Novoa. The rate cut took effect on 17 September and is the second such cut this year since the company decided to abolish domestic long-distance rates on 1 June, bringing all domestic calls under the umbrella of local telephony.

   

 

 

 

Ericsson, Movistar to launch 3G (Uruguay)

  • September 14th, 2007
  • 8:34 am

Ericsson has Wednesday announced a deal with Movistar, an operator in Uruguay, for the launch of its 3G network. Movistar is part of the Telefonica group.

Under the agreement, Ericsson will be the sole supplier and network integrator for Movistar’s new WCDMA/HSPA core and radio network.

   

 

 
 

Ericsson Bolsters Its 3G Network For Mobile TV (Germany)

  • September 14th, 2007
  • 6:23 am

Handset technology provider Ericsson on Thursday unveiled a platform for building mass-market multimedia devices.
The U335 WCDMA mobile platform combines high-speed uplink data and multimedia functionality for handling services such as mobile TV and mobile video.

It’s based on High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA), a third-generation high-speed digital data service provided by cellular carriers worldwide. HSDPA users typically experience downstream data rates up to 1 Mbps.

The U335 is different from Ericsson’s previously announced HSDPA platforms, which focus mostly on network access for PC-cards and high-end feature phones, according to the company.

“The U335 is the first platform to enable mass-market production of true multimedia devices. By enabling mobile TV through MBMS [Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service], DVB-H [Digital Video Broadcasting - Handheld], and Unicast, together with outstanding imaging, video and music capabilities in a cost-efficient package, we expect to see many consumer models built on this platform,” said Robert Puskaric, head of Ericsson’s mobile platforms’ unit, in a statement.

Devices built based on the U335 platform are expected to be available in the second half of 2008.

Earlier this week, Ericsson announced a deal with Uruguay’s Movistar to provide the mobile phone operator with a 3G network. Under the deal, Ericsson will be the sole supplier and network integrator for Movistar’s new WCDMA/HSPA core and radio network.

Ericsson claims its HSPA technology allows for download speeds of up to 14.4 Mbps and upload speeds of 1.4 Mbps in frequency bands, ranging from 850MHz to 2.6GHz. Future versions of the technology are expected to increase the HSPA download speed to 42 Mbps and the upload speed to 12 Mbps, Ericsson said.

   

 

Ericsson to supply 3G/HSPA network for Movistar (Uruguay)

  • September 13th, 2007
  • 1:00 pm

Ericsson has announced a deal with Telefonica’s Movistar for the launch of a 3G network. Under the agreement Ericsson will become the sole supplier and network integrator for the W-CDMA/HSPA core and radio network. Pablo de Salterain, CEO of Movistar Uruguay, said ‘Movistar is committed to providing leading telecommunications to the market. This deal marks a new era of communications and 3G services in Uruguay, and positions us for further evolution of our offerings. Ericsson’s support will allow us to offer top-quality multimedia services to our customers.’