LatAm Wrap-Up: Peru’s new telecom proposals; carrier Q3 highlights

Peru’s regulatory agency OSIPTEL released two proposals over the past week affecting the telecom environment. The first proposal states that telecommunication operators should raise the minimum guaranteed connection speed for fixed and mobile Internet. The minimum speed should not be less than 40% of the contract value. The proposed rule creates a set of indicators for fixed and mobile telephony, which will be mandatory for telecom operators, and includes the monitoring of Internet service quality under OSIPTEL’s purview. The proposal was published in the official gazette El Peruano and will be discussed over the next few weeks.

The second proposal concerns cellphone sales. OSIPTEL proposed an amendment that will force carriers to sell unlocked handsets. The measure aims to remove the technical barrier that restricts the free use of any operating company chips in mobile terminals (called SIM-Lock) and will encourage more users to switch operators.

Telecom operator Q3 2013 results: Over the last couple months, Latin American carriers have released their third quarter financial results for 2103. RCR Wireless News has compiled them, highlighting the most important numbers from each carrier.

Revenues 

Capex   

Mobile accesses   

Mobile ARPU*

*América Móvil and Telefónica did not provide an average ARPU for the region.

Nextel changes: NII Holdings, which operates under the brand Nextel in Latin America, made some changes to its management team. Peter Foyo, formerly president of Nextel Mexico, will become executive vice president of business development for NII Holdings, based at the company’s headquarters in Reston, Virginia. John McMahon will act as interim president of Nextel Mexico while the company conducts a search for a permanent replacement for Foyo.

McMahon will also continue in his current role as executive vice president, southern cone, responsible for the company’s operations in Argentina and Chile. In addition, David Truzinski, currently chief information officer, will take on the additional role of chief digital officer of the company. He will be responsible for developing strategies to enhance Nextel customers’ digital experience, allowing the company to engage with its customers more effectively across the digital landscape.

More news from the Latin American region:

• Telefónica Argentina plans to invest up to U.S.$1.87 billion (11.700 billion pesos) in the country over the next two years (2014-2015). The company will use most of the money to increase Internet connection speed by creating a wider data network. 
• Telefónica chief executive officer, Cesar Alierta, and another former executive stepped down from Telecom Italia’s board to avoid perceived conflicts of interest in Brazil, where the two carriers compete. 
• The average revenue per user (ARPU) in Mexico dropped 6% in the 3Q13 compared to the same period of 2012.
•  Telefónica’s Brazilian unit, Vivo, has partnered with MasterCard’s Rede to transform smartphones and tablets into credit card transaction terminals. The pilot project is underway in 12 stores in the cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. The partnership is expected to expand to more stores throughout Brazil during the first few months of 2014.
• Colombian UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones, which was the first telecom to launch LTE services in the country, announced that its LTE coverage now reaches 40 cities and counts 160,000 users.
• EchoStar Technologies LLC and the Vivendi subsidiary GVT are no longer in discussions to form a joint venture for pay TV services in Brazil. EchoStar said it remains committed to using its expertise in satellite and video technology to deliver a unique pay TV service to Brazil via a high-powered BSS satellite.
• Millicom Paraguayan operator Tigo has partnered with Facebook. Tigo customers can now access Facebook through their handsets without incurring any data charges, connecting with the social media network’s two million users in Paraguay and its 1.2 billion users worldwide.
• Alcatel-Lucent estimates that telecom companies in the Latin American region will invest about U.S.$60 billion over the next four years to improve their mobile infrastructure. 
• America Móvil had connected its Mexican lines to a newly built U.S.$1.1 billion submarine cable that stretches from South America to the United States.