Mobile number portability to be offered in Argentina this month (Latin America)
The Mobile Number Portability (MNP) service is expected to be offered in Argentina this month, enabling users to switch operators while retaining their mobile number, as reported by DJN.
The new service makes it tougher for operators to retain customers as the prime reason for a user to stick with an operator is to keep their mobile number. However, MNP offers users the freedom to change their operator while retaining their number.
Franco Bertone, chief executive of Telecom Argentina said that people have started thinking of their phone number as something that they own and the industry has to adapt to that.
Communications industry analyst Enrique Carrier said that this always leads to the elimination of an important competition barrier. Further, the most visible change will be that users will see companies doing more to capture customers from other companies.
America Movil Partners with Appia for the launch of ‘iApps’ (Latin America)
Wireless service provider America Movil, has announced the launch of its iApps Application Stores powered by Appia, bringing a vast catalog of apps and games to all America Movil subscribers across Latin America. According to company reports, the iApps Application Stores are now available through America Movil’s operating partners Claro, Comcel, and Telcel reaching over 240 million mobile subscribers in 18 countries across Latin America including Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico.
Marco Quatorze, Director of Value Added Services, America Movil, has said that with the launch of the Application Stores powered by Appia to all America Movil subscribers, Apps are now available to the majority of Latin American Mobile subscribers. Further, Appia’s carrier-grade solution enabled them to quickly roll out the largest Application Store across Latin America.
Appia’s Application Catalog includes thousands of applications and games for Android, BlackBerry, Symbian, and Java phones. The iApps Application Stores include both paid and free applications such as social media, news, weather and sports apps in Spanish, English and Portuguese. Leading application developers including Rovio and Gameloft are distributing their app through the iApps Application store, along with internationally recognized application developers including Facebook, Electronic Arts, and MocoSpace.
Lukasz Deszczulka, Executive VP Marketing, Tequila Mobile, has said that America Movil’s iApps Application Stores have been a great source of traffic for them. Also, the Latin American apps market is growing rapidly, and Appia and America Movil have made it incredibly easy to reach users and generate downloads.
Jud Bowman, CEO, Appia, has said that Appia is excited to partner with America Movil to bring apps to the hundreds of millions of mobile subscribers in North, Central and South America. As app use continues to grow globally, Latin American is a phenomenal opportunity for application distribution and we expect tremendous growth in app consumption.
Telefonica signs network sharing agreement with China Unicom (Spain, China)
Spanish telecom operator Telefonica has reportedly entered into a strategic partnership with China Unicom, wherein both operators will use each other’s networks to expand their coverage. According to reports, the deal will provide Telefonica access to China Unicom’s network in the regions of Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Australia, France and Sweden.
In return, China Unicom can reportedly increase its presence through Telefonica’s network in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Panama, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, USA, Puerto Rico, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria Denmark, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland.
Reports suggest that Telefonica believes this agreement will help both operators expand their capabilities to provide telecom services to various customers in different geographic areas.
Claro Paraguay expected to launch HSPA+ network in coming weeks (Paraguay)
America Movil owned Claro Paraguay is reportedly planning to launch its HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access) network in the country in the coming weeks. As per reports, the mobile network operator is expected to offer its users download speeds of upto 5Mbps. As per sources, Claro Argentina launched its own HSPA+ network last week, whilst Claro Uruguay is expected to launch its HSPA+ network later this month.
According to industry sources, Paraguay’s 3G subscribers had gone up by 14 percent in the first half of 2011, reaching almost 250,000 subscribers in June 2011 as compared to 217,000 subscribers in December 2010. Reports indicate that Tigo Paraguay is the market leader in terms of 3G subscribers, followed by Telecom Personal Paraguay and Claro, as at June 2011.
Virgin Mobile to launch MVNO services in Chile in 2012 (Latin America)
Virgin Mobile, an innovative wireless service provider, plans to launch mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) services in Chile in Latin America by early 2012. As per reports, the company will use Movistar’s (Telefonica) network and has signed an agreement for the same. The company, which begins its MVNO services in Chile, plans to expand its services in Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Uruguay, Colombia and Mexico. The company aims to target the youth consumers by positioning itself as a fresh alternative to existing wireless providers.
As per sources, Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin, has said that they are very excited about what they have achieved in their first commercial operation in Chile. He added that this is a very interesting project for Virgin and they believe that all Virgin Mobile Chile clients will be very satisfied with the services they will offer with this launch. Further, Claudio Muñoz, Executive President, Movistar has said they are convinced that this agreement will make the telecommunications market grow in Chile. The fact that Virgin Mobile will start operating as a new mobile operator shows that this type of business is likely between companies.
Grupo Clarin to invest $ 35.6 million in mobile broadband (Argentina)
Grupo Clarin SA has reportedly invested US$ 35.6 million towards the launch of Argentina’s fastest broadband service, Fibertel Evolution. The service is initially expected to provide Internet download speeds of up to 30 megabits.
According to sources, Gonzalo Hita, sales and marketing manager, Cablevision, said that they expect around 60,000 people to sign up for the service within the next year. He added that the Grupo Clarin offers broadband access to around 1.25 million subscribers through its popular Fibertel brand.
$4.5 billion worth of write-down sinks Telecom Italia into financial loss (Italy)
Telecom Italia has posted $2.83 billion worth of net loss for the first half of 2011, in contrast to the $1.71 billion worth of net profit the company had posted a year ago for the same period. In the same vein, Telecom Italia was dealt with $4.5 billion worth of non-cash write-down for the goodwill with regard to its domestic operations that had majorly contributed to the company plunging into financial loss.
In the wake of the company’s indirect shareholder, Telefonica having written down its stake in the company, the write down was anticipated.
However, the company’s revenues increased by 10% to $20.6 billion, taking the six months ending in June into account.
According to Telecom Italia Chairman, Franco Bernabè, repositioning on markets with better growth potential has enabled the Group in closing the first half with revenues worth $20.5 billion, of which 34% was contributed from Brazil and Argentina. Meanwhile, the trend in domestic revenues is showing positive signs due to price stabilization in the mobile segment in particular, in addition to protection of value in the fixed-line customer base. Also, the goodwill write-down will not have any financial consequences and no impact on the Group’s debt reduction plan or dividend distribution.
According to sources, the company is also mulling over a prospective acquisition of its local rival mobile network in Hutchison 3 Italia; estimated to be worth around US$6.1 billion after taking into account, some tax losses.
Regulatory pressures fail to deter America Movil’s increase in profits (Mexico)
America Movil posts increase in profits in the second quarter. The profits for the second quarter stand at $2.1 billion which represents a 14 percent rise, attributed to subscriber growth for one and then currency fluctuations on the other. Ironically, the company’s native Mexican market was known to have been affected by regulatory pressures.
There was an overall revenue rise by 7.8 percent to $13.7 billion. In addition, the subscriber base increased to 236 million customers. On the other hand, 9.4 percent rise in mobile revenue was propelled by a 26.7% rise in mobile data revenues, in addition to 5.2% rise in fixed-line revenues supported by PayTV and broadband revenues.
At the end of June, the company saw 5.1 million new subscribers joining in, within three months. The company also boasts of has 28.9 million landlines, 14.0 million broadband customers and 11.6 million PayTV units.
In comparison to the preceding year, wireless subscriptions in Mexico rose by 1.3 million, representing a 22.2% increase. In addition, the company gained 2.1 million new customers in Brazil, representing a rise of 59% as compared to last year while 669,000 new subscribers joined the company in Colombia that represents close to three times the number added the previous year for the same period.
The company’s subscriber base at June end stood at 66.9 million in Mexico, 55.5 million in Brazil, 30.6 million in Colombia and 18.6 million in Argentina, in addition to 18.8 million and 17.5 million in the USA and Central America, including the Caribbean respectively.
The company’s net debt shot up to $18.72 billion from $17.86 billion in December 2010, in a bid to fund capital expenditures of $3.53 billion and share buybacks and dividends of nearly $2.76 billion.
Mobile VAS records 35% growth, accounting for $1 billion revenue (Mexico)
During the first quarter 2011, the mobile operators in Mexico have seen the Mobile VAS market generating $1 billion revenue. This accounts for 21% of the VAS sales in whole of Latin America, making Mexico the second ranked market in the continent ahead of Brazil (18%) in the third position while Argentina leads the pack at the top with 36%, according to sources.
Apparently, VAS sales have been going great guns as far as the mobile industry in Mexico is concerned with 35% growth in the first quarter 2011 in comparison to the same quarter 2010. On the other hand, voice services revenue have only 2% to show. Incidentally, Mexico’s VAS corresponding mobile services revenue stands at 28%; more than 3% higher than the 25% regional average.
Messaging services in the form of SMS and MMS account for 60% of local VAS business; thereby corresponding to a 27% growth. On specific terms, Mexico shares the biggest chunk of the messaging market in Latin America with $626 million SMS revenue generated in the first quarter.
Mobile broadband services have witnessed the highest gain in terms of user adoption at a growth rate of 65%. This figure happens to correspond to 22% of the total VAS business in Mexico. Entertainment, mobile banking, social networking and instant messaging constitute the miscellaneous VAS sales that showed 33% growth.
Lebara introduces summer promotion in Spain
Lebara Movil, which is a MVNO in Spain, has introduced a summer promotion. Lebara will lower international mobile call tariffs by an average of 41% until 31 July.
Lebara customers can make calls to 233 country destinations. Lebara will maintain its 1 cent per minute offer for calls to Argentina, Brasil, China, Colombia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Romania and Venezuela.
National calls to fixed and mobile numbers will be charged 9 cents per minute. SMS are charged US$0.15 to national numbers and US$0.23 to international numbers.
