LATAM Telecom

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: Voice Mail Strategy Chile View more presentations from Raul Castanon . (tags: voice mail )

"Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity." -H. Jackson Brown Jr. This is a follow up to my two previous posts where I discussed opportunities and my top five predictions for the Latin America mobile market in 2009. The global economic downturn has forced operators to take a second look at new investments for 2009; however, this can be a good opportunity to look at things differently. Operators can rethink their VAS strategy and Repackage, Reposition, and Reinvent services and adapt to succed in the new economic environment. What follows is a list of services that, based on my experience, have a higher probability for success in 2009-2010: Reinvent voice .... Operators will be watching CAPEX spending closely and looking for ways to reduce OPEX. In addition, voice will continue to be the greatest cash generator in the region through 2013; it therefore makes sense to think about services that will help them offer voice services as cost-effectively as possible. ... ...

As the year comes to an end, it's a good idea to reflect on the past and learn from our experience, good or bad. With this in mind, I compiled a list of the good, the bad and the really bad news and analysis from the mobile industry in Latin America that I blogged about during 2008, with some additional comments and reflections. Enjoy! The good!!!! America Movil launches the iPhone - after much speculation and anticipation, America Movil formally announced in early May that they were selected to distribute the iPhone in Latin America. America Movil's VAS team moved quickly and successfully launched exactly one year after the iPhone was first launched in the USA by AT&T. Why is this GOOD? This was a complex deployment that was done with a very tight schedule. The successful launch of the iPhone in Latin America was possible thanks to a strong team; Corporate VAS in Mexico, together with local VAS Managers and Operations Managers in the region showed that they have wha...

This holiday season operators in Chile launched intense campaigns to promote their 3G services (see Claro and Entel PCS TV commercials). Services promoted are Video Telephony and Digital TV and Radio, with the promise of "other services coming soon". This comes as no surprise as Chile is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the region. According to the second annual Latin Technology Index from Latin Business Chronicle , Chile tops the list with the highest Internet and broadband penetration, the second-highest wireless telephony penetration and the third-highest PC penetration in Latin America. Latin America operators have quickly moved to putting in place all the infrastructure necessary for 3G, with operators in Chile, Argentina, Brazil leading the way. It is not a bad thing that operators are updating their networks, the question remains, however, What does 3G bring to Latin American markets? These services not only require new handsets, which can make t...

Fatima Raimondi, CEO of the Southern Unit for Ericsson Latin America stated that "A year ago, when I talked about 3G in the region, many thought of it as a fantasy; but now we can see it has been throughly realized" (interview for Convergencialatina , 2007 Latin American Yearbook MOBILES). The Southern Cone leads the region in technology and launch of 3G networks: Chile was the first to launch with the 3G launch of Entel PCS in December 2006. Since then, several America Movil and Telefonica Movistar properties followed aggressively during 2007, as well as Telecom Personal in Argentina. This is all good news, as the building of infrastructure was done in a relatively short period of time. However, as we have mentioned in previous posts (see posts 1 , 2 and 3 ), we have yet to see what this means for the evolution of VAS services in the region. Operators in the region have launched a number of services in the last couple of years but we have yet to see how MMS, Ring Back...