LatAm Wrap-Up: 125,000 LTE subscribers; Brazil reaches 14.1 million cellphones

The Latin American region now has 125,000 LTE subscribers, according to 4G Americas. The industry trade organization also noted that total mobile cellular technologies achieved 693 million connections, of which 96% are 3GPP technologies.

4G Americas also reported that there are 178 commercial LTE networks in 72 countries worldwide, compared to the 74 commercial networks in 40 countries reported a year ago. More than 100 new LTE networks were launched over the last 12 months.

More Latin American mobile market numbers:

• There were 51 million new 3GPP subscriptions in the year ending March 2013; 44.7 million were new HSPA connections, achieving a 19%  market share of total wireless connections; 15 million new HSPA connections were added in the first quarter of 2013 alone.
• HSPA mobile broadband achieved 134.5 million connections in the year ending March 2013 with annualized growth of 50%.
• There are 66 HSPA+ networks in 33 countries today.
• There are 20 commercial LTE networks currently in Antigua & Barbuda, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Dominican Republic, México, Paraguay, Puerto Rico and Uruguay.
• The region has a total of 125,000 LTE connections and is forecasted to reach 1.9 million LTE connections by the end of 2013.

More cellphones: The Brazilian cellphone market reached 14.1 million devices in the first quarter of 2013, according to IDC’s latest study. This represents a growth of 15% compared to the same period of 2012. Of the total, 5.4 million are smartphones, and 8.7 million are feature phones.

IDC analyst Leonardo Munin said that the growth was boosted by the increasing mix of products from major manufacturers that have focused on offering handsets aimed at different budgets and needs. He mentioned that other factors included the increase in competition between manufacturers and price reductions for the end consumer. On average, smartphones currently cost U.S.$384, less than the U.S.$439 average from last year.

More Latin American news:

• Nokia and América Móvil have partnered to ease mobile app purchases across Latin America. They’ve completed a wide-scale project to integrate the Nokia Store with the back-end billing systems of América Móvil and its subsidiaries in 17 Latin American countries . The companies said the integration creates a faster and better way to purchase mobile apps that work with Nokia mobile phones, including Nokia Asha smartphones.
• In Colombia, Telefónica is meeting resistance from its co-investor, the Colombian government, on a plan to raise money in the country. The telco needs more cash in Colombia to acquire radio-frequency licenses.
• Ericsson is partnering with Entel to deploy Connect To Learn in Chile. The companies aim to help rural Chilean students and their teachers benefit from connectivity to a 21st century education through a cloud-based computing solution and mobile broadband technology.
• Brazilian carrier Oi reported that it has deployed 65 new 2G and 3G sites and increased the capacity of the 303 already installed sites.

Be sure not to miss what’s happening in Latin America’s wireless markets. Check out RCR Wireless News wrap ups.