The Chilean Undersecretary of Telecommunications (SUBTEL) estimates that the bidding process for the administration system of number portability could open by March or mid April. The head of SUBTEL, Jorge Atton, signaled that the system should be implemented to a level of between 60 and 80% by the end of the year. Atton warned that the auction involved the participation of various players and due to legal issues its implementation could be delayed.
The Minister for Industry, Energy and Mining, Roberto Kreimerman, announced that the Uruguayan government was expecting Internet access penetration to reach 60% of homes during this year. The Minister confirmed that during this year they would unveil a new fibreoptic cable of 250 kilometers that would cross the Rio de la Plata uniting the eastern city of Maldonado with the region Las Toninas on the Argentine coast. The Uruguayan government signed a contract with Telecom Argentina to connect to its infrastructure and receive 320Gbps connection. At the present time the penetration level for broadband in the country is 3%.
The Dutch company Elephant Talk Communications announced in a press release that it had signed a memorandum of intent with the Brazilian company ClearTech to enter the services market for Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). The companies will associate as a MVNE (Mobile Virtual Network Enabler) to offer network implementation services, integration of deputy systems and even outsourcing of the MVNO network. In the beginning the companies will concentrate on the Brazilian and Chilean markets.
The quantity of accesses to fixed and mobile broadband internet in Brazil reached 34,2 million in 2010 according to the records of the Brazilian Telecommunications Association (Telebrasil). The group indicated that during 2010 14,2 million new connections were activated. Subsequently, mobile broadband connections registered a growth of 136,7%, reaching a total in 2010 of 22,6 million subscriptions, representing more than 50% of total broadband accesses and more than those of fixed lines. The largest growth was registered in connections from smartphones, which grew 257%, passing from four million in 2009 to 14,6 million in 2010. Between 2009 and 2010 fixed broadband connections grew from 11,4 to 13,6 million, an increase of 2%. According to the report from Telebrasil, the average speed of the connections is 1,3 Mbps.
The National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) of Brazil assigned the use of spectrum in the 450MHz band for fixed and mobile phone services and data services. ANATEL has established the bands between 451 to 458 MHz and 461 to 468 MHz, including a block of 7+7 MHz. As such, the actual users in the 450 – 470 MHz field will be moved to an alternative band in order to avoid interference.
The Argentine companies Consulfem, Liecom, Edinec and Ditel have signed an agreement with the National Institute of Applied Investigations (Invap), the state organization charged with unrolling the Terrestrial Digital Television system (TDT) for the supply of 20 transmitters of one Kw power. The group of companies called Cluster of Transmitters of Cordoba, already settled in the province, estimate that in addition to replacing imports of this digital TV equipment, they could also be able to export to other countries in the region. These four companies have joined with the Chinese manufacturer NEC, who in the month of December announced investments to build equipment at their base in the city of Buenos Aires to both source the Argentine market and export to other countries in the area.
According to a report from the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies (MINTIC), Colombia reached 3,54 million fixed and mobile Internet connections in the month of June. The number of fixed broadband Internet accesses totaled 2,42 million. Furthermore, the number of mobile broadband Internet accesses reached 1,12 million connections. MINTIC is working on the implementation of the Government’s policy to increase the number of accesses in the country to 8,8 million for the year 2014.
The head of the Superintendence of Telecommunications (Supertel) in Ecuador, Fabián Jaramillo, said that they are working with the Municipalities Association of Ecuador (AME) to design a working project to help mobile operators with installation of an infrastructure. Jaramillo explained that they have been monitoring the quality of mobile telephone services and had found that the operators had gaps in their coverage or lacked capacity in certain cells. As such, the regulator has obliged the operators to install new base stations.