Latin America mobile subscribers reaches the mark of 400 mlnAccording to new figures from the industry analyst, the number of mobile connections in Latin America exceeded 400 million in the first half of this year. Mobile penetration rate is 72%. Also operators are now turning to data services boost revenues. It is also forecasted that mobile connections in the Americas will reach 550 million by 2010, while penetration at the same date will stand at 93%. Top five penetration markets, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Venezuela have 76% of the region’s mobile subscribers, or 312 million connections.
Analyst also made reference to Spain’s Telefonica, the second-largest telecoms group in Latin America after America Movil, which in June announced plans to create a mobile advertising alliance across its operations in Europe and Latin America. Statistics reveals that Telefonica had just under 104.5 million mobile customers in Latin America at the end of the first quarter, or 70 million excluding Vivo, in which it holds a 50% stake only. The Spanish telco is still dwarfed by Carlos Slim’s America Movil, which claimed 146.3 million at the same date. Telecom Italia comes in a distant third with 48.4 million, followed by Millicom International Group with 16.2 million and Telecom Argentina with 12.6 million.
