4G LTE investment is expected to drive mobile telecom Capex in Latin America to $6.1 billion in 2014, said ABI Research.
The growth in Capex would be 10 percent this year.
ABI Research said upgrades and expansion of 3G WCDMA and 4G LTE coverage will result in radio access network-related spending capturing 40 percent of Capex.
Investment in small cell base stations will grow 40 percent in 2014 to $484 million.
“Mobile cellular CTOs are prioritizing investment in the core network functions as Internet packet traffic and value-added 3G and 4G services are playing an increasingly prominent role in the telecom services of the region,” said Jake Saunders, VP for core forecasting at ABI Research.
ABI Research estimates population coverage stood at 34 percent in 2013. This should change over the next two years as LTE subscriber adoptions grow from 2.33 million to 23 million. Growing demand for access to Internet services in Latin America cannot be addressed by DSL and cable Internet services.
Telefonica Chile, which is consolidating its 3G network infrastructure, including the deployment of fiber, plans to invest a further $200 million over the next three years.
In Peru, Telefonica plans to invest $250 million in LTE-related infrastructure.
In 4Q-2013, TIM Brazil rolled out its first 150 small cells to boost signal transmission capacity on its mobile network.
In Colombia, Avantel announced in 4Q-2013 it would invest $250 million on the first stage of its 4G roll-out. It was awarded 30 MHz of spectrum in June 2013.
Pyramid Research earlier said the number of tablets sold in Latin America will grow to 37.7 million in 2018 from 14.2 million in 2013. During the period, Latin America’s share in global tablet market will grow to 9.3 percent from 6 percent. One of the growth drivers will be mobile data strategies of Latin American telecoms, availability of video content, device subsidy, etc.
Earlier, ABI Research said Latin American smartphone subscriptions will reach 453 million — 54.6 percent of the total subscriptions – in 2018. LTE subscribers will grow from 0.3 percent of total subscriptions in 2013 to 12.5 percent by 2018, or 104 million.
Meanwhile, 4G Americas, a telecom industry body, said that the LTE and HSPA mobile broadband market share increased to 24 percent with 168 million connections of the total 700 million mobile connections in Latin America. Latin
Today, ZTE said demand for broadband networks, especially mobile broadband based on 3G and 4G technologies will continue to drive investment in the global telecommunications industry.
The continued development of the mobile Internet is sustaining demand for smart phones and devices, in addition to the growth of strategically important sectors such as cloud-computing, Internet of Things and Smart City, said ZTE.
Baburajan K
[email protected]
