Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Cellular News

3G and WiMax spectrum auctions in Latin America will trigger massive broadband subscription growth, from 9 percent at year-end 2008 to 70 percent at year-end 2014, according to a new report from Pyramid Research.

Fixed broadband penetration in Latin America, which stood at 5.0 percent at year-end 2008, is roughly 30 percent below the global average of 6.5 percent, while 3G mobile penetration, at 3.4 percent, also ranks well below the global average of 7.8 percent, notes Jose Mario Lopez, Research Manager at Pyramid Research and co-author of the report.

"Understanding the link between broadband adoption and economic development, governments throughout Latin America have made broadband deployment a central theme of their political agendas," he says. "Regulators now look to accelerate the award of broadband spectrum, specifically WiMax and 3G, to close the connectivity gap and inject additional competition into the market -- this will, in turn, reduce prices, extend coverage to underserved areas, and make more bandwidth capacity available for the introduction of robust Internet applications," he adds.

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