One of the most developed countries in Latin America, Chile faces very similar telecom challenges to Brazil, Colombia and Mexico. Its mobile penetration surpassed one device per habitant, reaching 120.8% in June, with most subscribers on prepaid plans. The Chile wireless market is also...
Editor’s Note: Welcome to our weekly Reality Check column. We’ve gathered a group of visionaries and veterans in the mobile industry to give their insights into the marketplace.
Brazilian Picture
The number of mobile broadband capable accesses in Brazil grew 82.18% last year, totalizing 18.6 million new devices, according...
Near field communication (NFC) is on its way to getting launched in Brazil and could become a reality at the end of this year, told RCR Wireless News Mustafa Almansur, NFC programme leader for the Brazilian market at GSMA, a global association whose members represent more than...
Smartphone sales as percentage of total sales will break the 20% barrier in 2012, with Brazil, Colombia, Peru and Chile having especially important increases in smartphone adoption. Smartphone adoption in the region will be driven by increased vendor competition, fuelled by Chinese manufacturers that offer affordable Android phones and operators trying to increase their smartphone base to increase data revenue.
The Costa Rican unit of Spanish telecom giant Telefónica filed a complaint Dec. 20 with Costa Rican telecom regulator Sutel against state-owned operator Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). Telefónica, which operates under the Movistar brand, accused ICE of anticompetitive practices in promotions for prepaid...
Ecuador ended November with 15.76 million mobile subscribers, of which prepaid and GSM mobile phones accounted for the largest portion, according to the Ecuadorian Superintendence of Telecommunications (Supertel).
The country's prepaid base accounted for 13.35 million of users, while postpaid accounts numbered 2.41 million at...
At an auction of frequency bands leftovers held by Brazilian telecom regulator Anatel on Dec. 6, carriers offered $132.7 million for 15 lots of frequency sub-bands used for the provision of personal mobile services.
The number of broadband connections in Brazil reached 53.9 million in October, an increase of 68.4% compared with the same month last year, as the rate of broadband activations to more than one new access every second, Telebrasil reported.
Brazilian carrier Oi recently announced the start of a shared broadband Wi-Fi project in Rio de Janeiro. The Wi-Fi project will begin with about 150 hot spots in the Ipanema and Leblon neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro, and the number of hot spots could...
Six months after its launch in the United States and Canada, the Research In Motion unveiled its PlayBook tablet in Brazil. The company began rolling out the device across Latin America last month. “Brazil is very important to RIM; we have 37% of market...
It has been a competitive battle for the No. 2 position in Brazil’s mobile phone market. While Vivo has maintained its leadership position, the second position has been a long running dispute between Claro and TIM.
What was a slim lead for Claro in June,...
Paraguay counted 248,000 mobile Internet users in the first half of 2011, a 14% increase from December 2010, when the country had 217,000 accounts. Statistics were published in La Nación and are related to the last data of National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel). Mobile Internet...
Brazilian carrier Vivo, which was bought by Spanish operator Telefônica in July 2010, kept its leadership in mobile access during the first half of 2011. According to numbers just released by Anatel, the carrier has just over 64 million users, which  represents 29.47% of market share.
TIM, from...
Ecuadorian mobile operator Alegro PCS, controlled by the national state carrier CNT, may migrate from CDMA to HSPA+ to improve and expand its services. According to the local newspaper El Universo, CNT is expected to invest US$ 74 million and the new technology might be...
Inside Costa Rica | May 16, 2011
The contracts are now signed and by the end of the year and for the first time in Costa Rica there will be a choice of cellular carrier. In December, Costa Ricans will be able to choose their...
Inside Costa Rica | May 16, 2011
The contracts are now signed and by the end of the year and for the first time in Costa Rica there will be a choice of cellular carrier. In December, Costa Ricans will be able to choose their...
