Business News Americas | January 19, 2011 | Phil Anderson
Netherlands-based SIM card manufacturer Gemalto believes at least 10 Latin American operators are planning to introduce Windows Live Messenger embedded on SIM cards this year, Gemalto’s telecom sector marketing director in Latin America, Ignacio Tresca, told BNamericas.
At present, 16 operators throughout the region have launched the service, bringing it to major markets that include Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Colombia and Mexico. During 2010, the system was used in Latin America by 3.5mn MSN Live users. Adoption rates have been growing, he added.
The MSN family of web services, mainly email and messenger, were used by some 120mn consumers in Latin America in April last year, according to a previous report from platform developer Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT).
Contrary to fears that users would be unwilling to install a new card, due to the need to re-enter all their contacts, Gemalto believes this is not an issue, since SIM cards are generally being renewed at a high rate in Latin America, particularly among prepaid users. Furthermore, in certain situations the application can be remotely added to SIM cards that are already in circulation.
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