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#MWC15: LTE forecast to cover 76% of LatAm by 2020, generate $275B in GDP

BARCELONA, Spain — Latin America’s upcoming 700 MHz spectrum auction and the expected expansion of LTE deployments and coverage is set to drive discussion about the region. With operators having invested almost $8 billion in spectrum licenses over the past three years, mostly tied to deployment of 4G networks, GSMA Intelligence predicts that the fourth generation of telecommunications will be available for 76% of the population by 2020. By the end of 2014, LTE networks covered 35% of the region’s population from a total of 57 LTE networks across 22 Latin American countries.

During this week’s Mobile World Congress event, GSMA head of Latin America Sebastián Cabello commented on the contribution mobile telecommunications services in the region had on gross domestic product, which is expected to increase from 4.1% in 2013 ($242 billion) to 4.5% by 2020 ($275 billion). Although telecom operators contribute the most to GDP, some new sectors, such as content application, are flourishing.

This year is set to be pivotal for mobile deployments across Latin America. According to the GSMA, unique mobile subscribers (which are different from total mobile connections as it excludes machine-to-machine and people who have more than one line) posted a 52% penetration rate last year and counted 327 million subscribers. The prediction is that this number will increase to 390 million subscribers by 2020, with total connection set to hit 890 million.

Cabello also highlighted the importance of mobile broadband in pushing forward the region’s quest to expand broadband access.

“There’s a huge contribution from the mobile industry to Latin America,” Cabello said. “Carriers are aware of their duty to contribute to the digital inclusion.”

In addition, mobile operators are involved with mobile banking initiatives, which are expected to touch so-called unbanked people who fall outside of the traditional financial system. Latin America currently counts 36 m-banking projects.

Another aspect of expanded access to digital services through mobile is the increase in smartphone penetration. Currently, the average rate in the region is 31%. On the other side, as the adoption of smartphones increase, carriers are growing more concerned about how to monetize their network investments. GSMA expects data traffic across Latin America to hit 15.9 exabytes in 2018.

Editor’s Note: Celistics paid for travel costs to Barcelona.

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ABOUT AUTHOR

Roberta Prescott
Roberta Prescott
Editor, Americasrprescott@rcrwireless.com Roberta Prescott is responsible for Latin America reporting news and analysis, interviewing key stakeholders. Roberta has worked as an IT and telecommunication journalist since March 2005, when she started as a reporter with InformationWeek Brasil magazine and its website IT Web. In July 2006, Prescott was promoted to be the editor-in-chief, and, beyond the magazine and website, was in charge for all ICT products, such as IT events and CIO awards. In mid-2010, she was promoted to the position of executive editor, with responsibility for all the editorial products and content of IT Mídia. Prescott has worked as a journalist since 1998 and has three journalism prizes. In 2009, she won, along with InformationWeek Brasil team, the press prize 11th Prêmio Imprensa Embratel. In 2008, she won the 7th Unisys Journalism Prize and in 2006 was the editor-in-chief when InformationWeek Brasil won the 20th media award Prêmio Veículos de Comunicação. She graduated in Journalism by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de Campinas, has done specialization in journalism at the Universidad de Navarra (Spain, 2003) and Master in Journalism at IICS – Universidad de Navarra (Brazil, 2010) and MBA – Executive Education at the Getulio Vargas Foundation.