  | Issue: | Latin America 2012 |
| Article no.: | 4 | |
| Topic: | The mobile broadband superhighway paves the way for Latin America’s future | |
| Author: | Chris Pearson & Erasmo Rojas | |
| Title: | Chris Pearson, President & Erasmo Rojas, Director of Latin America | |
| Organisation: | 4G Americas | |
| PDF size: | 255KB |
About author
Chris Pearson is the President of 4G Americas. In his role as the spokesperson and senior operating officer of the corporation, he is responsible for the strategic planning of the organization and providing executive management for the integration of strategy and operations in the areas of technology, marketing and regulatory affairs.
Erasmo Rojas is the Director of Latin America and the Caribbean for 4G Americas and is responsible for public relations, technology and regulatory affairs for the organization in the region. Mr Rojas is the 4G Americas Latin America spokesperson providing information to mobile operators, regulators, media and analysts regarding the 3GPP family of technologies.
Article abstract
4G America expects demand for broadband in Latin America to skyrocket from 12% today to 70% in 2016. This would bring prosperity to the region,with higher GDP and more jobs. However, the regulators can directly affect this future by freeing up spectrum forLTE. “Spectrum is the oxygen for our industry” and the regulators hold the key to its availability.Regulators should avoid forcing LTE to share bands with other technologies, as done for HSPA, since LTE works best in new spectrum bands. LTE types and frequencies must be harmonized in the region to allow for economy of scale across the region, instead of special infrastructure for places with unusual spectrum allocation.
Full Article
Latin America is at a crossroads. One direction is a mobile broadband superhighway that leads to a future where virtually every consumer, business, school and hospital has Internet access at speeds of 1 Mbps to 26.3 Mbps. That future leads to prospetity,because mobile broadband enables telemedicine, distance learning and a wider range of economic opportunities.The other direction is a two-lane path to a future where broadband remains limited to urban areas. Even there, service is slow compared to the rest of the world because there’s simply not enough spectrum to accommodate customer demand for high-bandwidth services such as video. Meanwhile, rural areas and small towns continue to languish on the wrong side of the digital divide.
The region’s governments will play a decisive role in determining which path their countries take. For example, those that quickly free up spectrum for High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks will see immediate economic and societal benefits such as increased job creation and tax revenue as operators quickly build networks to meet demand. Governments that dawdle risk losing out on a gross domestic product (GDP) boost of 0.3 to 1 percent. Here’s what regulators and legislators need to consider: the stakes are high for the region’s future.
Can mobile broadband be a key driver of Latin American economies?
Chris Pearson: Absolutely. A September 2011 study by Ericsson, Arthur D. Little and Chalmers University of Technology found that when a country’s mobile broadband speed doubles, its GDP increases by 0.3 percent. That study also showed that every 10 percent increase in mobile broadband penetration could translate into a 1 percent GDP increase. One reason for this is thatapproximately 80 jobs could be created for every 1,000 broadband connections added in a developing economy,according to the study.
Which aspects of Latin American lives can mobile broadband affect in the next ten years?
Erasmo Rojas: Nearly every aspect. For example, mobile broadband is the fastest, most economical way to eliminate the digital divide. Mobile broadband is already providing access to e-services such as distance learning and telemedicine, creating opportunities that otherwise residents would not have in rural areas and small towns in the region.
What kind of mobile broadband coverage and usage does Latin America currently have?
Pearson: HSPA networks were first launched in Latin America in 2008. Today, this technology is available in every country in the region. For even faster service, HSPA+ is available from 36 commercial networks in 21 countries. At the high end, there are six commercial LTE networks in four countries: Brazil, Colombia, Puerto Rico and Uruguay.
Rojas: At the end of 2011, 12 percent of the Latin America and Caribbean population had a mobile data subscription. The coverage is mainly in the large cities and tourist areas. Initially, most mobile data users were on post-paid plans, but operators have expanded the data market to pre-paid by offering those services on a pay-as-you-use basis, such as hourly, daily and weekends.
What’s the outlook for LTE in Latin America?
Pearson: It’s bright because LTE meets the need for broadband among consumers, businesses and governments. However, spectrum availability directly affects LTE’s ability to meet that need. Almost as soon as operators get the additional new spectrum, they begin building LTE networks.
How serious of an obstacle to wireless progress is the lack of spectrum?
Pearson: It’s an enormous obstacle not only to wireless, but also to everything that mobile broadband enables, such as distance learning, telemedicine and economic growth. Spectrum is the oxygen for our industry, and when we struggle to catch our breath, everyone suffers. That’s not ‘hype’ when you consider the role that wireless plays in the workplace and daily life. Spectrum is the key ingredient for improving coverage, improving capacity and improving operators’ financial ability to provide efficient, high-quality services.
Rojas: It’s important to understand why LTE makes the spectrum shortage even more of a challenge for the industry and its customers. Most of the region’s initial HSPA networks were launched by squeezing it into spectrum that operators were already using for services such as GPRS and EDGE. However, LTE works best in new spectrum bands.
What spectrum will be used for LTE in the Americas?
Pearson: We expect 700 MHz, 1700/2100 MHz and 2600 MHz to be the initial primary LTE bands in the Americas. These bands already have LTE deployments in the region, including Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Puerto Rico, the United States and Uruguay.
Rojas: In addition, North American operators plan to expand LTE to 1900 MHz and refarm old cellular bands such as 850 MHz for use with LTE. Latin America has a similar approach of possible refarming.
What should the region’s governments consider when deciding which spectrum to make available for LTE?
Pearson: Regulators throughout Latin America should focus on configuring licenses with wide bandwidths, which enable LTE to deliver multi-megabit speeds. Wide-bandwidth licenses arealso key for the carrier aggregation that enables LTE-Advanced to deliver speeds in the hundreds of megabits.
Wherever possible, regulators also should harmonize their allocations with the rest of the Americas and the world. Harmonization means that a country’s operators and customers will enjoy the benefits of economies of scale. One example is devices and network infrastructure that don’t have to be custom-made for a country’s unusual spectrum allocation. Economies of scale and efficient deployment of infrastructure and devices is key to bridging the digital divide.
Finally, regulators should avoid forcing LTE to share bands with other technologies. There are no winners when multiple services have to cut corners to make do with shared spectrum.
Will HSPA/HSPA+ and LTE coexist in Latin America?
Rojas: They’ll coexist for at least the next decade because they complement each other so well and allow for roaming on a regional and an international basis. An operator might launch HSPA/HSPA+ everywhere and then add LTE in cities before gradually expanding it to rural areas – a process that could take several years. Or it could market LTE to enterprises and consumers who use a lot of bandwidth-intensive services. The roaming aspect will be important as HSPA is the leading mobile broadband technology today and well into the future. With the number of spectrum bands in which LTE will likely be deployed, it will be essential to fall back to HSPA+ services worldwide for roaming coverage.
Are there entry barriers for mobile data uptake?
Rojas: Although the region’s mobile broadband usage continues to grow, one barrier is the affordability of smartphones. These devices are more powerful than PCs were just a decade ago and can be expensive for subscribers. It’s an unfortunate paradox – smartphones and tablets can play a huge role in bridging the digital divide, yet they’re expensive and often out of reach of many demographics.
Pearson: The affordability factor highlights my earlier point about the need for spectrum harmonization, which helps to increase efficiency and grow the market to many more demographic segments.
About 80 percent of Latin American mobile customers use prepaid. Will post-paid become more or even less important?
Pearson: Pre-paid has enabled the region’s explosive mobile growth over the past ten years. It provided a great avenue for subscribers to get access to voice communications. However, as the market in Latin America matures, we expect an increase in post-paid services for both voice and data.
Rojas:Customers who use a lot of data give operators valuable insights into how consumers perceive the value of those services. Operators are using the latest smartphones and tablets to encourage high-usage pre-paid customers to switch to post-paid. In Latin America, the style and type of devices are very important for consumers to show off to friends, especially among those aged 25 and younger, who are more than half of the Latin American population.
What will the Latin American mobile broadband market look like in 2016?
Pearson: We expect that GSM will continue to be widely used throughout the region. HSPA+ and LTE will be deployed in most Latin America countries, giving consumers and businesses access to fast mobile broadband services.
Rojas:With the availability of new spectrum, new devices and new applications, 4G Americas expects mobile broadband penetration – HSPA, HSPA+, LTE and LTE-Advanced – will skyrocket from about 12 percent at the end of 2011 to over 70 percent by the end of 2016. That’s a connected future that every Latin American can look forward to.
