@CTIA: Telefonica touts body, vision and soul

LAS VEGAS–Telefonica used the CTIA Wireless 2010 stage to flex its international might, touting its global communications presence in 25 countries across four continents, connecting 265 million customers. Inaki Urdangarin, chairman of Telefonica International USA, noted that more than 50% of investors in Telefonica are U.S.-based.
In a speech that focused on the body, vision and soul of the global operator, Urdangarin presented an overview of the carrier, its future plans and its humanitarian efforts.
The body
Telefonica, which began as a fixed-line operator in Spain, counted 9 million customers and 67,000 employees in 1995. Today, it offers fixed, mobile, broadband and TV services with 265 million customers and 260,000 employees. The operator uses the brand name 02 in Europe and Movistar in Latin America. Urdangarin said Telefonica is the largest foreign investor in Latin America, having invested $120 billion in the region. Telefonica also has partnerships with Telecom Italia and China Unicom, and is also the largest foreign private-sector investor in Unicom. Telefonica is the second-highest global operator in the world by enterprise value, only to be outranked by AT&T.
The vision
As an operator that has substantial investments in Latin America, Urdangarin preached that the wireless industry needs to re-think its vision of developing markets, noting that recently the greater investment risks were in developed nations. “We have to change the way we look at the developing world.” Emerging markets will be the foundation for future economic growth, with more smartphones sold vs. personal computers by 2012.
Telefonica is helping to drive that growth through initiatives like its Campus Party exposition, which connects developers with its enterprise customers, and its 02 Money initiative. In developed countries, 02 Money is geared to parents with teens. Parents can give teens a credit card to use and both people can check balances, make transfers and buy services via the handset and card. In Latin America, Urdangarin envisions even more potential, as 70% of the people in the region do not have bank accounts. The operator is working with the Colombian coffee growers association on a mobile-banking initiative.
Telefonica, CTIA and America Movil are launching a new Latin America common short code initiative that creates a central registry process, enabling brands and operators to more easily secure a single short code that can work in Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic , Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaraugua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela. CTIA will manage the registry, and Syniverse will support the program with its Web-based platform.
The soul
As a global corporate citizen, Telefonica focuses on education. More than 5 million children between the ages of five and 14 in Latin America work. The operator, which wants to eradicate child labor, has 167,000 children in schools today and expects more than 200,000 in the future.