Mobile broadband use has overtaken fixed-line access, GSMA Latin America says, adding that the main challenge for the region’s countries is to support the demand for data traffic. Public policies are necessary for mass access to networks, said GSMA Latin America Director Sebastian Cabello, who opened the organization’s plenary meeting this week in Sonsonate, El Salvador.
In the presence of more than 130 executives — including representatives of more than 30 national carriers in the region, regulators and providers of mobile telecommunications industry — Cabello emphasized the importance of spectrum harmonization and facilitation for the deployment of infrastructure to encourage universal adoption and mobile Internet throughout Latin America.
Without access to new spectrum, Cabello said, it will be difficult for operators to meet the demand for mobile broadband. He talked about a “tsunami” of data traffic to be faced. The association expects data traffic to increase 13 times over from its current level.
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A representative of the radiocommunication bureau of the International Telecommunication Union, Jorge Ciccorossi, said mobile broadband plays a key role in socioeconomic development in the region and cited a need to improve spectrum efficiency and identify more spectrum to support the demand for data traffic.
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