Delays in the commercial launch of Claro Panama will benefit growth by Digicel in this market. Development of UMTS/HSPA networks and services by Tigo, Cable & Wireless and Claro in the various Central American markets will force Digicel to deploy this technology in the next 12-18 months, and to use WiMAX to sell broadband services, and eventually PayTV services.
Buenos Aires - December 4, 2008- Signals Telecom Consulting, the leading company in telecoms research and consulting covering the markets of Latin America and the Caribbean, announces the publication of a series of six reports on the mobile markets of Central America that analyze competitive dynamic and strategy, the regulatory framework, operator profiles and growth forecasts for: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama.
The entry of new mobile telephone service operators in the markets of Honduras and Panama, the future opening-up of the Costa Rican market and the interest in increasing mobile licenses in Nicaragua are transforming the competitive dynamic of the Central Ameri can telecommunications sector. Launches of UMTS/HSPA networks (Tigo, Claro, Movistar and Cable & Wireless) and the interest being shown in expanding Pay TV services (Claro and Tigo/Amnet) will force other market players to speed up the launch of new services and promotions that will help them to increase customer retention.
]]>Aggressive customer retention tactics by mobile operators will require regulatory authorities to increase their budgets to be able to combat unfair trading practices. Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Mexico will be the markets most affected, as they account for 85% of the region's portability.
Buenos Aires - December 9, 2008 - Signals Telecom Consulting, the leading telecommunications research and consulting firm for markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, announces the publication of its report on "Mobile Number Portability in Latin America." This report analyzes the impact of MNP in various markets in Europe and the United States to determine the potential impact of MNP in Latin American markets, in terms of the number of porting customers and approximate costs.
]]> "Together with the arrival of MNP we are also seeing increased operator aggressiveness in their efforts to retain existing customers. Actions such as compulsory contract extension and the failure to advise users of new contract clauses will force the region's regulators to increase the budget they assign to the prevention of uncompetitive market practices," indicated Carlos Blanco, Market Research Director for Signals Telecom Consulting and author of the report.SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- AT&T Inc. said late Friday it plans to buy regional wireless provider Centennial Communications Corp. for $944 million in cash, in a bid to expand its coverage.The move comes days after the Federal Communications Commission approved the merger of AT&T rival Verizon Wireless and closely-held Alltel Corp., which promises to propel Verizon past AT&T as the number one U.S. wireless carrier in terms of subscribers.
AT&T said in a prepared statement that acquiring Centennial will improve "coverage for customers in largely rural areas of the Midwest and Southeast United States," as well as in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
More info here: 7th Annual Caricam Conference
]]>Venue: Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain, Trinidad
Who should attend?
Public sector: Policy Makers, Regulators, Universal Service/Access Fund Agencies.
Carriers: Fibre, submarine and satellite network operators
Telco Operators: Fixed and mobile network operators, ISPs, mobile internet and web SPs
Manufacturers: network infrastructure equipment suppliers,
Content Developers: Application service providers and software and application developers.
Mobile adult content services revenues should surpass the US$ 1.12 billion mark by 2013, showing a Compound Annual Growth Rate, or CAGR, of 49.52% for the 2006-2013 period. Brazil and Peru are regional leaders in the "gay" adult content offering area.
Buenos Aires, Argentina - October 29, 2008 - Signals Telecom Consulting, the leading Latin American and Caribbean telecommunication markets consulting and research firm, announces the publication of its "Analysis of the Value Added Services Market: Mobile Adult Content" report. This study is part of the "Mobile Value Added Services in Latin America and the Caribbean" research series. This report analyzes the offering made by five content developers, 17 integrators and 21 operators working in the seven largest telecommunications marketplaces in the region: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
]]> This study highlights the fact that adult content property rights for images of well known models and actresses will differentiate this industry. "Playboy Movil is a good example of an adult content supplier that is able to set itself apart by holding the property rights to the images of numerous models and actresses. This has allowed Playboy to launch an adult content promotion campaign, starring Luciana Salazar, with nudes in Latin America. Salazar played a leading role in the "Luly in Love" Playboy TV series. The objective of this new publicity effort is to promote the value added services, oriented to adults that are being offered by the Playboy mobile division," poi nts out Elias Vicente, Signals Telecom Analyst the report author."Although there are a large number of enterprises that specialize in the development of adult content - for example: Revista Sexy, G Magazine, Planet Sex, etc. - Brazilian value added services lack an explicit sex offering. The efforts of Playboy, SexyClube and Dream Cam Clube have changed the images offering made available by Brazilian operators. This has modified the adult content service value chain structure and marginalized traditional integrators like Toing and Lingaki." concludes Vicente.
]]>Incumbent telecom operators approach to PayTV services will be heterogeneous as it will rely on multiple technological platforms: IPTV, DTH, CATV and MMDS. By 2013, Latin America's seven largest telecommunications markets will exhibit a PayTV household penetration of 34%.
Buenos Aires, Argentina - October 21, 2008 - Signals Telecom Consulting, the leading Latin American and Caribbean Basin telecommunications market consulting firm, is proud to announce the availability of the most comprehensive research and analysis of Latin America's PayTV market. Comprised of three market analysis studies: "IPTV Strategies", "The DTH Market as a Packages Strategy in Latin America", and "CATV Business Models in Latin America"; this series analyze the PayTV offer of more than 35 operators from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Co lombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
]]> "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.
]]>News, Codetel, Wireless Trunking, Dominican Republic: Caribbean telecoms operators have enjoyed many successes in recent years, with the Dominican Republic boasting five million mobiles within a population of ten million. To support network expansion and coverage, local fixed/wireless operator Codetel has deployed Ceragon's FibeAir 3200T all-indoor wireless trunk solution.]]>The Dominican Republic is an advanced telecoms market, boasting more than five million mobile subscribers within a population of about ten million. An island-wide microwave radio relay network and fibre-optic lines cover many of the main cities and deliver services such as DSL, fixed and mobile telephony.
Codetel is the largest of five telecommunication service providers operating in the Dominican Republic and a subsidiary of America Movil. In early 2008 it began deploying Ceragon's FibeAir 3200T all-indoor wireless trunk solution to support its telecom network expansion and coverage. Codetel provides local, long-distance and wireless voice services together with advanced data services to approximately one million customers.
"THE HEAD office for Cable & Wireless' new model structure One Caribbean, will be in Barbados.]]>Chairman of C&W Caribbean Phil Green, told the SUNDAY SUN the commitment to Barbados was "very, very strong" since it had always been a major player for the company.
Barbados has the largest data centre in the Caribbean and is currently the home of 11 of C&W's 13 units.
The company announced on Friday that the local contact centre would be closing, putting 115 workers on the breadline."
The deployment of UMTS/HSPA networks by operators like Setar, Viva and Claro, as well as the upcoming roll out by Cable & Wireless, will drive the presence of 3G services offerings in the Caribbean. Wireless broadband will be its primary growth engine. A possible reduction in handset costs, together with the implementation of single price 3G rate plans will invigorate the development of related Value Added Services (VAS) offerings. 3G revenue growth will generate a CAGR of 98.9% during the 2008-2013 period.
Buenos Aires, Argentina - October 14, 2008 - Signals Telecom Consulting, the leading Latin American and Caribbean telecommunication markets consulting and research firm, announces the publication of its "Analysis of 3G Strategies in the Caribbean" report. In this study, Signals takes an in-depth look at the 3G mobile services offering in the region, including the commercial offerings and / or strategies used for next generation wireless networks.
"Because the 3G service offerings deployed using UMTS/HSPA technology are largely based on wireless broadband access and oriented to the corporate and high disposable income segments, they have initially emulated the behavior of EV-DO networks. This implies measured growth via users already having fixed broadband access who use 3G as a mobile access alternative. Here, the main reason for marketing this service is the value users place on mobility. Due to the impending drop in the number of European and American tourists visiting the region, however, many operators that have deployed 3G services via CDMA2000 EV-DO will begin to contemplate using the same for offering local services. Thus, said operators will not longer v iew these networks just as means of generating international roaming revenues. This is what newcomer TSTT has done in Trinidad & Tobago," explains Otero.
In this type of environment, 3G services will only begin to experience significant levels of growth in the Caribbean as from 2010. This will be "the result of broader geographical coverage, an increase in the number of operators that will have completed commercial UMTS/HSPA launches and an improved handset offering. All of this will allow operators to reduce user service acquisition costs as well as add on more robust voice and VAS type offerings oriented to personalization contents," concludes Otero.
]]>By 2013, Signals estimates that there will be around 42 million broadband subscribers in Latin America. This represents a CAGR of 9.7% over the next five years. CATV operators will have a 49% Pay TV market share in 2013.
Buenos Aires, Argentina - July 17, 2008 - Signals Telecom Consulting, the leading Latin American and Caribbean Telecommunication markets consulting and research firm is proud to announce the publication of the second edition of its "CATV Business Models in Latin America: Operator Profiles" report. In this study, Signals takes an in-depth look at the CATV type Pay TV services offerings of 11 operators in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.
The projections included in this report show that, by 2013, the regional penetration rate for Pay TV services will be low, with just 34% of households making use of this type of services. "One should consider the fact that this index is held down by very low service penetration levels in Brazil. But, beyond Brazil, Peru is also seen as falling below the average regional penetrate rate. All the remaining countries are expected to be well above the average Pay TV penetration level. One important piece of information to keep in mind is that as from 2012, Venezuela is seen as having the highest penetrate rate in the region, replacing historical frontrunner Argentina," concludes Blanco.
About Signals Telecom Consulting
Signals Telecom Consulting, with offices in Buenos Aires Argentina and an on-site presence in Fort Lauderdale, Florida is the leading Latin American and Caribbean Telecommunication Markets Consulting and Research firm. Signals offers dedicated consulting and research services that aide operators, manufacturers, applications developers and investments banks during the strategic decision making process.
]]>Sept. 25, 2008 -- A unanimous thumbs-up from Public Services Commission members Thursday evening cleared the path for both Centennial Communications and the V.I. Telephone Co. (Vitelco) to keep using federal Universal Service Funds (USF) to augment and build their bases in the territory.
More here from the St. Thomas Source.
]]>SALEM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATNI - News) today announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.18 per share, payable on October 14, 2008, on all common shares outstanding to stockholders of record as of October 2, 2008. This represents an increase of two cents, or 12.5%, in the dividend paid from the previous quarter. If maintained, this equates to an annual increase of eight cents, from $0.64 per share to $0.72 per share.Michael T. Prior, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, said, "We are very pleased to have reached this milestone of our tenth consecutive annual increase in our dividend. Our entire team is proud of our track record of delivering both current income and capital appreciation to our shareholders."
About Atlantic Tele-Network
Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATNI - News) is a telecommunications company headquartered in Salem, Massachusetts. Its principal subsidiaries include: Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, Limited, which is the national telephone service provider for all local, long-distance and international service, as well as a wireless service provider, in Guyana; Commnet Wireless, LLC, which provides voice and data wireless roaming services for U.S. and international carriers in rural areas throughout the United States; Bermuda Digital Communications Ltd., which, under the Cellular One name, is the leading provider of wireless voice and data services in Bermuda; Sovernet, Inc., which provides wireline voice and data services to businesses and homes in New England; and Choice Communications, LLC, which provides wireless television and wireless broadband services in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Buenos Aires, Argentina - September 15, 2008 - Signals Telecom Consulting the leading Latin American and Caribbean telecommunication markets consulting and research firm is proud to announce the publication of its "Mobile Market Analysis: Brazil" report. This study is part of the "Mobile Telephony Services in Latin America and the Caribbean" research series. In this report, Signals analyzes the mobile services market in Brazil, with a focus on the VAS offerings of local mobile operators.
]]> This analysis highlights the fact that the slowdown in subscriber growth, the need to achieve positive returns on investment and the high mobile teledensity rates, which surpasses the 100% mark in cities like Brasilia and Salvador (Bahia), will trigger increasingly aggressive efforts by mobile operators to market Ring Tones / Music, Adult Content, Mobile TV and wireless broadband access. "The expansion of UMTS/HSPA coverage and the presence of variety of 3G networks in the most important urban areas of the country will force Brazilian mobile operators to evolve their current data strategy. The pr esent focus on torpedos (SMS) will give way to efforts to strengthen multimedia type VAS and wireless broadband access," comments Jose F. Otero, President of Signals Telecom Consulting and report co-author.The study points out that prior to the December 2007 IMT-2000 spectrum bidding, 3G deployments in Brazil were limited to the VIVO CDMA2000 EV-DO offering and the limited in-band UMTS/HSPA deployments by Claro. "The increasing number of 3G networks in this marketplace will trigger a more diversified offering. This will allow operators to present their related service offerings as somehow being an alternative that is different from the rest. Operators will be able to achieve this via exclusive content, the marketing of state-of-the-art handsets (such as the iPhone) and the launching of Fixed-Mobile convergent services" adds Otero.
Finally, the study highlights the fact that the strategy of increasing revenues via the acquisition of new clients is becoming an ever more difficult issue for mobile operators. "The aeiou (Unicel) experience in Sao Paulo shows that the entrance of new players into the marketplace faces numerous entry barriers. On the other hand, plans that include MVNO type operations could help to reduce market entrance costs for companies like Virgin Mobile and Vodafone. In the short term, the only operator seen as being interested in acquiring addition spectrum is Nextel Brasil allowing the operator to have a viable technology migration plan for its iDEN platform," conc ludes Otero.
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