Latin America 4G/M2M Operators Facing Economic and Regulatory Challenges
Rio de Janeiro: Deployments of 4G networks and cellular M2M technology are poised for rapid growth across Latin America if mobile operators in the region can overcome a range of regulatory and economic challenges, according to new GSMA research. GSMA Intelligence, the research arm of the GSMA, has published two new reports at the Mobile 360 Latin America conference being held in Rio de Janeiro this week (13-14 May), outlining the need for a sustainable approach to both 4G and M2M deployments in the region.
Tackling The Barriers to 4G Growth
There were 39 operators with live LTE networks in Latin America by March 2015, covering 15 of the 22 countries in the region1. The first 4G network in Latin America was launched by Antel in Uruguay in December 2011. The number of deployments has accelerated recently with 17 operators launching new 4G networks in 2014 and a further 21 operators planning launches in the coming years.
Despite this recent momentum, 4G only accounted for 2.4 per cent of the total 683 million mobile connections in Latin America in Q1 2015, below the 8.4 per cent global average. This means that the migration to 4G in the region is currently occurring at a slower pace than the earlier move to 3G. The report attributes this slower progress to a number of factors, including the insufficient allocation of suitable 4G spectrum (especially in frequencies below 1GHz, such as the 700MHz digital dividend band); the difficulties in deploying infrastructure at the municipal level to meet the current stringent coverage obligations; and a challenging macroeconomic environment that has discouraged many subscribers from upgrading to 4G devices and services.
Latin American mobile operators are investing billions in acquiring 4G licenses and building-out 4G infrastructure despite challenges on both the supply and demand side, said Sebastian Cabello, Head of GSMA Latin America. Many operators are investing despite declining revenue from traditional operator services such as voice. The new 4G networks are improving service quality and will be key for universalising mobile broadband access across the region. We therefore call on policymakers in the region to address the barriers to sustainable mobile broadband deployment in order to stimulate continued investment in both 3G and 4G networks.
According to GSMA Intelligence, 4G will account for 28 per cent of Latin American mobile connections by 2020. 3G networks - which currently cover almost 90 per cent of the region's population - are forecast to account for 51 per cent of connections by this point. Mobile operators will be supporting the migration to mobile broadband (3G/4G) networks over this period with rising investment in infrastructure; operator capital expenditure is estimated to total almost US$170 billion in the six-year period between 2015 and 2020, an increase on the US$106 billion invested over the last six years.
Operators Taking The Lead In Latin American M2M
GSMA Intelligence estimates that there were 16.1 million cellular M2M connections in Latin America at the end of 2014, making it the fourth-largest M2M region worldwide behind (in order) Asia Pacific, Europe and North America. Growth in cellular M2M connections in Latin America is forecast to be strong over the coming years, rising by 25 per cent per year (CAGR) until 2020 and reaching 62 million connections by this point. Cellular M2M accounts for only around 2 per cent of total connections in the region today, but is forecast to rise to 7 per cent of the total by 2020.
Brazil is the largest M2M market in Latin America with 9.9 million cellular M2M connections at year-end 2014, accounting for 61 per cent of the total cellular M2M market in the region. Last year's reduction in the SIM card tax on non-person' operated M2M devices2 has stimulated the market in Brazil, helping to accelerate M2M deployments in areas such as vehicle telematics and smart metering.
Supportive regulatory frameworks can play an important role in stimulating the deployment and adoption of new M2M applications and services, as we have seen with the tax reduction in Brazil, said Cabello. Operators in the region are providing more that just the connectivity component underpinning cellular M2M; they are developing new business models in conjunction with both local public and private partners that can provide end-to-end M2M solutions that can serve a broad range of vertical markets.
The two new GSMA Intelligence research notes can be downloaded below:
https://gsmaintelligence.com/research/2015/05/towards-a-sustainable-approach-for-4g-deployment-in-latin-america/505/
https://gsmaintelligence.com/research/2015/05/m2m-in-latin-america-state-of-the-market/506/
-ENDS-
Translations:
Spanish
Portuguese
About the GSMA
The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide, uniting nearly 800 operators with more than 250 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem, including handset and device makers, software companies, equipment providers and Internet companies, as well as organisations in adjacent industry sectors. The GSMA also produces industry-leading events such as Mobile World Congress, Mobile World Congress Shanghai and the Mobile 360 Series conferences.
For more information, please visit the GSMA corporate website at www.gsma.com. Follow the GSMA on Twitter: @GSMA.
Media Contacts
For the GSMA
Tatiana Cantoni (Brazil)
+ 55 11 95210-2225
taticantoni@pimenta.com
GSMA 360 Press Office
mobile360pressoffice@gsma.com
1 The 22 markets classed as Latin America in this research are: Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Latin America 4G/M2M Operators Facing Economic and Regulatory Challenges
