A few weeks back we had to cancel our weekly Wrap Up as our company signed new clients and we had to reorganize to accommodate our new projects. With things now settle we first apologize for not covering the market and we hope our new structure prevents us from stopping our weekly news service. So lets get to it now that we are back.
And fist of, we need to report on America Móvil financial results. Carlos Slim mobile operator reported 18% lower profit margins during the second quarter of this year. During that period, América Móvil profits reached US$ 1.450 billion. However, net income grew and reached US$7.900 million between April and June, representing an increase of 11.9 percent compared with the same quarter last year.
In Paraguay state owned operator Copaco paid US$3 million for mobile operator Vox, stated Mario Esquivel president of Copaco, at a press conference held on July 22nd. According to an audit of the Uruguayan state-owned operator Antel, Vox assets are valued at US$16.5 million.
And Argentina will see the launch of its first MVNO. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives (Fecosur) will launch on July 29th its own MVNO. “Our” (in Spanish “Nosotros”) is the name chosen for the new MVNO, which will use Telecom Personal infrastructure.
Bolivia government sent a commission to China to manage and speed up the construction and purchase of the Tupac Katari telecommunications satellite. The country is planning to launch its first satellite sometime during 2013. Among its uses is projected to improve Internet connectivity and mobile telephony, mainly in rural areas. According to the agreement signed in April 2009 between the Bolivian Space Agency (ABE) and the Chinese company Great Wall Industries Corporation, the project demands an investment of approximately between US$200 and US$300 million.
Following the social network trend on mobile networks, Personal and Movistar in Argentina announced the launch of their SMS based Twitter offering.
The Brazilian Association of Telecommunication Resources (ABR Telecom) reported that from September 2008 until 30 June of this year 5.5 million users carry their phone number to another operator. ABR Telecom explained that in the first quarter of this year 1.02 and 1.08 million fixed and mobile numbers respectively were ported. Since it launch, 70 percent of porting numbers come from the mobile market.
Total investments in the telecommunications sector in Mexico this year will reach US$3.411 billion, representing a 16 percent increase over 2009, according to estimates from The Competitive Intelligence Unit.
The Supervisory Agency for Private Investment in Telecommunications (Osiptel) in Peru approved the new productivity factor that reduces by 5.98 percent annual fixed telephone rates for local and long distance calls. The tariff reduction will be effective from September 1st and it will apply until August of 2013. The state agency estimates that the reduction in costs will produce savings of US$17.67 million for fixed line telephone users.
In Nicaragua mobile phone penetration will rise from 53.9 percent in 2010 to 80 percent in 2015, according to a recent report by Pyramid Research. The consultancy predicts that the market will grow at a compound annual rate (CARG) of 6.5 percent over the next five years. The market value will increase from US$ 478 million in 2010 to US$655 in 2015.
Panama’s regulator, National Authority of Public Services (ASEP), announced August 19th as the new date for companies to submit their proposals for the implementation of number portability. The government had declared the tender void in June, arguing that none of the companies fully complied with all the requirements and specifications.
Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) is for the first time interconnecting with private companies this week. IP telephony companies can now interconnect with ICE´s infrastructre and begin marketing their services.
Telefonica plans to invest US$517.5 million in Brazil in broadband development this year, up 24 percent from the US$417.3 million it invested in 2009. This represents a 40 percent of the total investment of Telefónica in 2010 in that country. In the first six months of 2010 its customer base grew 14 percent compared to December 2009. According to company executives, the cost of broadband service has been reduced by nearly 80 percent since the year 2000.
The Minister of Transport and Telecommunications in Chile, Felipe Morande, told the newspaper El Financiero they hope to achieve a 70 percent broadband coverage by 2014. Morande said that the government wants to have full broadband coverage in the next eight years.
Tigo and Viva in Paraguay are offering prepaid BlackBerry devices and plans.
Telefonica, NII Holdings (Nextel Televisa) and Iusacell won the mobile telephony frequencies tender in Mexico, said Commission Federal de Telecomunicaciones (Cofetel).
Telmex launched its range of Video on Demand (VOD) services for their users subscribed to Advanced TV services. With this new offering the company competes against other pay TV services offered by operators such as DirectTV. The VOD service will only be available at first in the city of Bogotá, subject to coverage.
See you next week, we promise!