New antenna law expected to speed network deployments
Brazil President Dilma Rousseff approved a new antenna bill (law nº11.116) laying down new rules for the installation of antennas used by mobile operators. The law aims to speed deployment of telecommunications infrastructure in the country, which has been delayed by the shear number and variety of municipal laws, each addressing different factors such as environmental impact and amounts to be paid for land use, among other issues.
The telecom operators union SindiTelebrasil celebrated the new law, noting it will make deploying antennas faster and easier; previously the approval process could take as long as a year in some cases. Also, the new bill dispenses with the licensing for small antenna installation in urban areas, which will speed up the expansion of coverage.
Rousseff did veto some provisions. The most important was the possibility that telecom regulator Anatel could approve an antenna installation in a given locality if after 60 days the local authority had not made a decision.
América Móvil approves tower spin-off
América Móvil’s shareholders overwhelmingly approved  the spin-off of around 10,800 cell towers into a new company, Telesites. With this move the Mexican towers will become available for use by América Móvil’s competitors. The spin-off is part of the obligations América Móvil is under following the telecommunications reform passed by the government, which found América Móvil to be a dominant player in the country.
According to local news, Telesites could achieve revenues of $67,000 per tower, with a margin of 62%, in a period of three to four years. The company will compete with American Tower, Crown Castle and SBA Communications.
OTT boom: The Latin American market for over-the-top video streaming is expected to continue growing until at least 2018, due to the increasing demand for entertainment. According to a new survey by Frost & Sullivan, revenue from OTT video services will grow from $96 million in 2013 to $783 million by 2018, when the subscriber base will reach 12.7 million. Currently, the largest players in the region are Netflix and Clarovideo, but Frost & Sullivan predicts that new competitors will enter the market as OTT video gains popularity.
In a video interview, Maiara Paula Munhoz, industry analyst for LatAm at Frost & Sullivan, explains the impact of the growing OTT video services for telecom carriers.
According to Juniper Research, OTT TV providers such as Netflix and Amazon Prime are expected to generate $31.6 billion globally by 2019, up from just under $8 billion in 2014.
More news from the Latin American region:
Brazil — Algar Telecom tapped Nokia Networks to deploy LTE services in the 700 MHz band, upgrading its 3G network and preparing the telco for voice-over-LTE and voice-over-Wi-Fi services. Under a five-year turnkey contract, Nokia Networks will provide radio and core networks and managed services.
TIM is planning to deploy 3,000 small cells in several urban centers. The goal is to increase data capacity and improve the quality of its services.
Colombia — América Móvil’s subsidiary Claro launched commercial services over the AMX-1 submarine cable system. Owned by América Móvil, the 17,500 km-submarine cable system is designed for 100-gigabit per second transmission. The company plans to have the AMX-1 connect seven countries with eleven landing points.
Cuba — Sprint’s Boost Mobile prepaid division launched a new rate plan that includes a bucket of calling and unlimited messaging from the U.S. to Cuba.
Bolivia — Tigo approved a $130 million investment plan, which is an increase of $45 million compared to 2014. The focus is said to be on increasing fiber optic networks and expanding business units.
LatAm — The Movile mobile commerce platform announced a $40 million round of funding led by Naspers with the goal of accelerating projects in online-to-offline mobile commerce and mobile entertainment.
Millicom, which owns Tigo, announced first quarter results, with revenues up 21.6% year-over-year to $1.71 billion. In a statement, the company said that its Central American operations are continuing to see revenue momentum following a recovery in Honduras. Growth in South America slowed slightly but remained in double digits following mobile termination rate cuts in Colombia and Paraguay.
Global — Telefónica Business Solutions and NEC signed a four-year agreement that calls for NEC to become Telefónica’s global integrator to enable the delivery of comprehensive cloud services to SMB customers in Europe and Latin America.
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