The WiMAX Forum Latin America Congress 2008, in Rio de Janeiro 3-4 December, features 70+ speakers, interactive workshops, Analyst Briefings, Investor Pitches, Connectivity Q&A, a Certification Boot Camp, and a lively exhibition floor.
Alvarion said today that its WiMAX business in Latin America is increasing, and now has a base of over 30 operators. Large Latin American operators are choosing Alvarion’s 4Motion solution, based on the company’s WiMAX Forum Certified BreezeMAX base station, said the company.
To date, Alvarion has delivered more than $100 million worth of WiMAX equipment for networks deployed throughout Latin America, primarily in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Venezuela.
Latin America has a population of 550 million with a broadband penetration below 15%. Brazil, for example, only has a 3% penetration rate, and over 40% of the country’s cities lack mobile telephony, broadband access and cable TV services. Latin America is also one of the most urbanized regions with 75% of the residents living in metropolitan settings.
Wally Swain, Senior Vice Present, Emerging Markets, Yankee Group commented, “The lack of wired infrastructure and low broadband penetration on one hand, with numerous WiMAX license opportunities on the other, creates an attractive future for the WiMAX market in Latin America.”
“We are proud to play a key role for broadband growth in Latin America,” said Tzvika Friedman, president and CEO of Alvarion. “Our success in Latin America is the result of qualities we bring to the global marketplace, with fast and flexible response to customers, true OPEN WiMAX solutions, excellent project execution – all reinforced by strong financials and full commitment to WiMAX.”
Currently, there are 95 WiMAX deployments in the Caribbean and Latin American region, says the WiMAX Forum, with 10 deployments in Brazil and seven in Peru. WiMAX is quickly taking center stage in Latin America with several key auctions expected in 2009.
- Argentina - Over 100 companies have expressed interest in purchasing licenses at the Resolution 250/2008 spectrum auction, where 3.3-3.7 GHz spectrum for WiMAX will be auctioned off.
- Colombia - The Colombian Communications Ministry expects to award spectrum licenses in 2009.
- Jamaica - The Jamaican Ministry of Industry, Technology, Energy and Commerce (MCT) has released information about the upcoming auction for 2.5GHz band licenses with details about 125MHz distributed for wireless broadband and 3G services, and 65MHz for subscriber TV services (STV) in the 2500MHz-2650MHz band.
Recent analysis from Frost & Sullivan of the Latin American WiMAX market found it comprised only 20,700 subscribers in 2006, but estimates it will reach 1.2 million in 2012. The WiMAX Forum projects that more than 13 million consumers in Latin America will be WiMAX users by 2012.
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