Telecom Lead America: Entel Chile has selected Ericsson to supply its 4G / LTE network.
The telecom operator in Chile also expanded partnership with Ericsson for its 2G and 3G networks.
The deal is for multi-standard radio access network, Evolved Packet Core with Evolved Packet Gateway on the SSR 8000 family of Smart Services Routers, operation and support system and backhaul transport design.
Antonio Büchi, CEO of Entel, said: “At Entel, we value innovation and the skills to provide excellence in service; we have made huge efforts in delivering an unbeatable customer experience on mobile broadband and now on 4G.”
Entel is looking for a complete 3G-4G solution to accelerate revenue growth. Entel’s revenue increased 15 percent in the third quarter of 2012, principally driven by mobile, data (including IT) and network rental services. Entel’s total mobile customers increased to 9,890,178 in the third quarter of 2012, up 15 percent.
Analysys Mason says telecoms retail revenue in Latin America will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.3 percent between 2012 and 2017. Mobile services will account for about 80 percent of this growth. Increased usage of mobile handset data and mobile broadband services will boost mobile retail revenue at a 4.8 percent CAGR, while fixed retail revenue will grow at a 1.4 percent CAGR.
Pablo Iacopino, lead analyst for Analysys Mason’s Global Telecoms Forecasts research program, said: “Brazil is the largest telecoms market in LATAM in terms of telecoms retail revenue, generating $62 billion in 2012, and is the fourth-largest market in the world after the USA, China and Japan.”
The main contributors to revenue growth in Latin America during 2012–2017 will be mobile broadband (growing at a CAGR of 15.8 percent), mobile handset data (a CAGR of 12.6 percent) and fixed broadband (6.6 percent). These three service categories will account for almost 90 percent of the revenue increase during the forecast period.
Currently, Ericsson has more than 130 commercial LTE contracts on six continents, of which over 60 networks have already gone live.
“The U.S., Japan, and South Korea have been fueling the engine with LTE, but weak activity in BRIC countries dragged the overall mobile infrastructure market in 2012,” said Stephane Teral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research.
Once currently awarded contracts have been deployed, Ericsson — as claimed by the company — will have a more than 50 percent share of the Latin American LTE market in terms of volume.
According to Infonetics, Ericsson maintains its lead in the LTE infrastructure market, though Nokia Siemens Networks is closing the gap as of the 4th quarter. Alcatel-Lucent is #2 for the full year 2012 and posted its best LTE quarter to date in Q4 2012.
Nicolas Brancoli, vice president of Ericsson Latin America, said: “This contract marks another significant milestone for Ericsson and further consolidates our network leadership in the region.”
Arvind Krishna
