LATAM Telecom

Yet more uses for Mobile phones & text messaging Mobile phones to announce 'you've been indicted' this note appeared in the "Odd News" section and is in South Korea but I thought it'd be interesting to comment on it. In a country where about 75 percent of the population carries mobile phones, prosecutors felt it was time to move away from sending legal notices on paper and send them electronically instead, said Lee Young-pyo, an administrative official. "Most people in South Korea have mobile phones and since the notices don't reach them immediately by regular mail, this is a more definite way for the individuals to know they have received a legal notice," Lee said. The indictments by text messages are not intended to take people by surprise. "People will receive a text message of a legal notice only after they apply for the service," he said.

Mobile Content & Marketing in Latin America Tierra Innovation, Inc. new report "Mobile Content & Marketing in Latin America: Update" (Nov. 2005) contains an update and "revised estimates for the value of mobile content in the region, subscriber targets and growth rates, developments in the top five markets, and a fundamental look at the big picture - the wireless vs. wired nature of Latin consumers." Tierra Innovation, Inc. expects the top five mobile content markets in Latin America - Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, and Venezuela - to reach $1.5 billion by year-end 2007. Given that mobile communications prevails in Latin America, even for data content, this will have interesting opportunities in this coming year that we will analyze and discuss in our next posts. http://www.tierra-innovation.com/weblog/

RIM to Launch BlackBerry in Latin America Telefónica Móviles and Research In Motion To Launch BlackBerry Across Latin America BlackBerry will be available in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Mexico, Uruguay and Venezuela Madrid, Spain and Waterloo, Ontario - Telefónica Móviles and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced plans to launch BlackBerry® in 13 Latin American countries beginning in early 2006. BlackBerry is a leading wireless communications platform that keeps mobile professionals connected to people and information with integrated support for voice, email and data applications. “The combination of the most advanced handsets with the best networks and global offers for the whole of Latin America means that Telefónica Móviles can provide the best BlackBerry services in the region. This continent-wide strategic alliance shows the potential of our Group and marks a step forward in our strat

Latin America operators are following a VAS trend that exploded first in Asia and shortly thereafter in Europe: Ring Back Tones. With the introduction of "tu musica de espera" Movistar Chile is leading the way. Pricing follows the same scheme as other regions, with a flat monthly fee and a per download fee ( http://www.movistar.cl/servicios/interactivo/?id=190 ): Download - $990 Chilean Pesos (approximately US$1.70) Monthly fee - $500 Chilean Pesos (approximately US$0.85) This pricing scheme has several challenges including reacing the prepaid market which in Latin America countries is usually 80% of total subscriber base. The monthly fee is inconsistent with the prepaid business model (pay as you go). While downloads can dramatically increase ARPU, if kept at a global average of US$1.50 will limit the size of the market. One option that can be explored, is to get rid of the monthly fee and base the business case entirely on dowlonads. This gives the user the flexiblity of do