"Through our three studies we provide a comprehensive analysis of the competitive and regulatory dynamics of Latin America's PayTV marketplace. We not only provide profiles for more than 35 operators offering PayTV services through different platforms (IPTV, DTH, MMDS and CATV) but also provide insight on the return on investment for the new technological deployments and the basis for multi-platform business models," affirmed Carlos Blanco, Market Research Director at Signals Consulting and author of the series.

Some of the findings from Signals Telecom Consulting's Pay TV series are:

Incumbent operators will use a multi-platform type pay TV market approach strategy. This means, they will get involved in this business area via the deployment of more than one type of platform simultaneously (IPTV, DTH or CATV/MMDS). Signals estimates that IPTV will begin to gain significant strength as from 2009 and it will such enjoy solid growth potential, that by 2013, 19% of the total number of pay TV subscribers in the seven largest markets in Latin America will do so via IPTV. By 2013, Telmex and Telefonica will represent 58% of the region's IPTV connections.

The largest CATV operators in the region: VTR in Chile, Cablevision Mexico and Telmex Colombia will continue to update and expand their networks, increasing their bi-directional capacity in order to sustain other services like broadband and fixed telephony.

One of the main drivers for DTH growth will be multiple service package bundles offered by telecommunications operators, whether this be done directly via own platforms (Telefonica, and, very soon, Telmex) or by way of joint commercial

efforts, such as those offered by the DirecTV group in conjunction with different operators.

There is no single model for marketing DTH services. For example the largest PayTV operator in Latin America, DirecTV, has achieved a solid market by positioning itself as a technology innovator and by offering exclusive content. As of the 3Q08, Telefonica is the main telecommunications operator having its own DTH platform offering services on multiple markets. It's just a matter of time before Telmex implements a similar strategy in countries like Mexico and Brazil where it controls the incumbent operator. Whereas in markets such as Colombia, Chile and Peru where Telmex is a small market player the possibilities for bundling DTH are mostly reduced to certain market niches. Thus Telmex has to focus on the market of DTH as a means of complementing its CATV coverage.