LTE Offers Big Opportunity in Latin

America with New Spectrum Availability

4G Americas Offers Keynote at LTE Latin America

March 20 2012

BELLEVUE, Wash. – “No doubt, Latin America continues to see tremendous uptake of mobile broadband and with new spectrum being made available, LTE offers vast opportunities for mobile internet connectivity and a new user experience for both the enterprise and consumers, as well as a big boost to the economy,” said Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America and the Caribbean at industry association 4G Americas.

Rojas, a noted expert in the wireless industry, will be delivering the opening presentation at LTE Latin America 2012, outlining the challenges and opportunities for LTE success in Latin America and providing a market update on HSPA and HSPA+. He will also be moderating a regulators’ panel discussion to analyze the spectrum assignment situation in the region.

LTE is the global standard for the next generation of mobile networks supported by virtually every major operator in the industry. LTE mobile broadband is commercially available from five network operators today in Latin America, including four mobile LTE-FDD networks: AT&T and Claro in Puerto Rico; Antel in Uruguay; UNE in Colombia; and one fixed LTE-TDD network: Sky Telecom in Brazil. Also, LTE already has been tested by incumbent operators in countries such as Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Mexico and Peru. 4G Americas expects that 40 Latin American operators will offer LTE services with more than 20 million LTE subscriptions by 2015, according to Informa Telecoms & Media.

4G Americas reports that 95 percent of the mobile connections in Latin America today use 3GPP technologies, such as GSM, HSPA and LTE. At the end of 2011, there were 604 million 3GPP connections including 74 million HSPA mobile broadband connections. HSPA and HSPA+ are the foundation of the mobile broadband world enabling operators the flexibility to meet the increasing advanced wireless needs of customers today and tomorrow and will be the leading mobile broadband technology for at least the next decade providing operators a global footprint, international roaming and robust mobile broadband speeds. There are 79 commercial HSPA networks in 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean today, of which 33 have been upgraded to HSPA+ in 20 countries. The natural evolution of the 3GPP customer base will be to LTE provided that spectrum assets are allocated in the market.

“There are concerns regarding the timely allocation of appropriate globally harmonized spectrum bands in Latin America,” Rojas said. “The governments in the region are working to bring out more spectrum in free market-oriented auctions. In order to incentivize the sizable operator investments needed, 4G Americas stresses the need for fair and transparent rules for auctioning internationally harmonized spectrum bands throughout the Americas region.”

Spectrum bands that are well-suited for successful deployment of LTE in the Americas include 700 MHz, 1.7/2.1 GHz and 2.6 GHz. The 700 MHz band auction in the U.S. in 2008 was a key driver for investment in LTE network deployments and led to the U.S. positioning itself as the leader in LTE subscribers. These spectrum bands are important considerations for the successful future of mobile communications throughout the Americas region.

On April 17-18, 2012, decision makers will gather at LTE Latin America at the Windsor Barra Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to discuss key issues and opportunities surrounding next-generation technologies in the region. The event is expected to host over 400 attendees, more than 50 high-level speakers from key industry players and operators in the region and over 30 exhibitors and sponsors from major LTE vendors.  4G Americas provides official endorsement of LTE Latin America 2012.

For more information about the event and to see the full agenda visit www.lteconference.com/latam.

About 4G Americas: Unifying the Americas through Mobile Broadband Technology
4G Americas is an industry trade organization composed of leading telecommunications service providers and manufacturers. The organization’s mission is to promote, facilitate and advocate for the deployment and adoption of the 3GPP family of technologies throughout the Americas. 4G Americas contributes to the successful commercial rollout of 3GPP mobile broadband technologies across the Americas and their place as the No. 1 technology family in the region. The organization aims to develop the expansive wireless ecosystem of networks, devices, and applications enabled by GSM and its evolution to LTE. 4G Americas is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash., with an office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Dallas. More information is available at www.4gamericas.org.

4G Americas’ Board of Governors members include: Alcatel-Lucent, América Móvil, AT&T, Cable & Wireless, CommScope, Ericsson, Gemalto, HP, Huawei, Nokia Siemens Networks, Openwave, Powerwave, Qualcomm, Research In Motion (RIM), Rogers, T-Mobile USA and Telefónica.