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Brazil needs to improve its backhaul, backbone infrastructure, firms say

Brazil has to improve the capacity of its backbone and backhaul infrastructure to support the increasing demand of data, said Informa Telecoms & Media and Brazilian consulting firm Teleco during a news conference held by information and communications technology company Huawei. In a recent survey,...

Latin American companies launch LTE, but should they consider 4G?

This week, two Latin American companies announced LTE launches: Sky in Brazil and Antel in Uruguay. Previously, Colombian UNE EPM announced its LTE antenna and U.S. carrier AT&T plans to deploy LTE in Puerto Rico as part of its strategy to expand networks improvements...

Brazilian carriers start HSPA+ migration; Claro launches its networks

Brazilian carriers are migrating their 3G network to HSPA+, mostly to cope with the increase in data volume. Telefónica’s Vivo announced the commercial launch of its HSPA+ network last month, and América Móvil’s Claro said this week that it has enabled its network to...

UNE EPM, 2 others partner on $80M data center; UNE president resigns

In the same week that UNE EPM Telecomunicaciones President Horacio Vélez de Bedout submitted his resignation to the board, the government telecom announced that it has partnered with compatriot firm Enlace Operativo and Mexican company Kio Networks to develop a data center in Colombia. Bedout...

Amazon Web Services launches cloud computing platform in South America

The first South American global cloud computing platform for Amazon Web Services (AWS), an Amazon.com company, was launched today in São Paulo, Brazil. This is the eighth geographic region worldwide in which the company has deployed its platform to offer suite of infrastructure Web...

Lime unveils 100 mbps service in Jamaica through FTTH network

Cable & Wireless Communications’ Caribbean business Lime said today that it has launched a 100 megabits per second (mbps) residential broadband service in Jamaica, delivering speeds more than 12 times faster than the company’s previous fastest broadband service. The new broadband service is delivered using its...

American Tower acquires Mexico sites from Telefónica

Telecom infrastructure giant American Tower (AMT) unveiled plans to purchase 2,500 towers from Telefónica's Mexican subsidiary for about $500 million, excluding value-added tax. AMT said it has entered into definitive agreements with Pegaso PCS SA de CV and expects to acquire a substantial majority...

Uruguay’s ANTEL to launch LTE services

ANTEL, Uruguay's government-owned telecom, has said it will launch its commercial LTE network to customers in Montevideo and Punta del Este on Dec. 19. Named Vera, the Internet service is part of an infrastructure strategy that ANTEL has been developing through the fiber optic project...

Telefónica invested $13 billion in Mexico during past 10 years

The Mexican unit of Spain’s Telefónica has invested U.S. $13 billion in the past 10 years to boost the telecommunications access in the country, Telefónica CEO Juan Antonio Abellán said. In the coming year, the carrier said, it will focus on developing the telecom sector...

Sky Brazil launches broadband services based on TD-LTE

DirecTV’s Latin America subsidiary Sky Brazil has become the first Brazilian company to launch 4G services. The country's largest satellite TV service has entered the broadband wireless market offering 4G wireless service based on TD-LTE (time division duplex long term evolution) network. It is available...

Apple launches iTunes Store in 16 Latin American countries

Much of Latin America can now access Apple Inc.’s iTunes Store as the company launched its music store today in Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela. The iTunes Store in Latin...

NSN’s service delivery center in Mexico to complement Brazilian site

Nokia Siemens Networks has inaugurated a new center in Mexico to deliver remote services to operators across Latin America and around the world. The service delivery center will provide network design and planning as well as optimization and assurance for both networks and the...

NEC, Telefónica launch cloud computing services in Argentina

Japan's NEC and the Argentinian unit of Spain's Telefónica have announced the first step in promoting cloud computing services in Latin America. As a result of previous partnership, Telefónica Argentina launched cloud services using NEC's cloud platform. In February, Telefónica and NEC agreed a partnership...

SAP buys SuccessFactors for $3.4B, moves toward cloud

SAP’s strategy to go beyond traditional enterprise resource planning, moving toward mobile, big data and cloud computing has begun a new chapter. The German enterprise software giant has acquired SuccessFactors, a provider of cloud-based human capital management solutions.

Reality Check: Reflections on Brazil’s class C and mobile commerce

The explosion in Brazil's class C population -- defined as families with monthly incomes of $660 to $2,850 -- has been accompanied by changes in consumer spending habits by members of that class, especially in the mobile phone market.

NSN to sell fixed line broadband access business; second sale within a month

Less than 15 days after selling the former Motorola Solutions’ WiMAX business to NewNet Communication Technologies, Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN)  announced today that Adtran Inc. (Nasdaq: ADTN) plans to acquire its fixed-line broadband access business and associated professional services and network management solutions. Financial terms...

Mexican telecom sector grows 10.7% in Q3; mobile subscribers at 97.1 M

Mexico's telecommunications sector grew 10.7% in the third quarter, according to the Index of Telecommunications Sector Production (Itel) from Cofetel, the country’s telecom regulator. The rate is higher than 2010′s average growth of 10.6%. Among telecom segments, satellite television registered the greatest growth during the...

Brazilian electronics sector grows 8% in 2011, short of forecast

The Brazilian electronics industry will close this year with revenue of U.S. $73.7 billion (R$134 billion), an increase of 8% from 2010 but short of an initial expectation of 13%, nonprofit trade group Abinee said this week, citing a trade imbalance and a stronger real.

Entel takes out $200M loan with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi

Entel, the second-largest mobile telephone operator in Chile, has signed a $200 million loan with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi and a unit of Bank of Nova Scotia. The money will be used to pay down a $600 million loan Entel has coming due in June.

BroadSoft survey: Shift to mobile-only communications an opportunity for MNOs

Global enterprises are shifting to mobile-only communications more rapidly than expected, as well as adopting unified communications services more broadly, notes the 2011 BroadSoft Mobile Enterprise of the Future survey. This trend could be an opportunity for mobile network operators, because enterprises believe their MNO is better positioned to deliver services such as video calling and conferencing, Web conferencing, voice mail, presence management and instant messaging than fixed-line providers like Microsoft, Google or IBM.

Nextel, Iusacell agree to withdraw lawsuits over spectrum auction

Nextel Mexico, the local unit of Virginia-based NII Holdings and Mexican group Iusacell have agreed to withdraw lawsuits and end litigation related to an October 2010 auction.

Telefónica Colombia to invest $500M in 2012

The Colombian unit of the Spanish group Telefónica will receive about U.S. $500 million from its parent company in 2012 from for investments, focusing on expanding its infrastructure for data services, fixed and mobile telephony.

IBM unveils solutions to meet IT consumerization demand

Although IT consumerization is a relatively new phenomenon, it cannot be ignored by chief information officers. IBM is taking steps to address enterprise-class requirements with a series of new mobile apps.

Brazilian carriers buy frequency band leftovers for $132.7 million

At an auction of frequency bands leftovers held by Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel on Dec. 6, carriers offered $132.7 million for 15 lots of frequency sub-bands used for the provision of personal mobile services.