3G Americas: Data 20% of mobile billing in 5 years

Mobile operators in the largest Latin American markets should see data services grow to represent 15-20% of their revenues in 4-5 years, according to Erasmo Rojas, Latin America and the Caribbean director at GSM advocacy agency 3G Americas. Today, 5-10% of the revenues generated by mobile operators in Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Chile come from data services. "In Latin America we are seeing a process of consolidation of large operators such as Mexico's América Móvil (NYSE: AMX) and Spain's Telefónica Móviles (NYSE: TEM). These operators should develop messaging and multimedia services and implement them in quick succession between all countries," Rojas told BNamericas. Other markets in the region that should also see this data service growth are Ecuador and some in the Caribbean region. "Those operators with economies of scale should see data and multimedia service revenues grow faster," he added. At the end of March 2005, 39% of mobile users in Latin American and the Caribbean, or 73.4 million customers, were using GSM networks, according to statistics from Informa Telecoms & Media. TDMA users now represent 35% of the region's users, at 66 million. CDMA has 24% with 46 million customers. iDEN and analog technologies each represent about 1% market share. According to Informa there were 11.5 million GSM additions in the first quarter of 2005 for Latin America and the Caribbean, compared to 3.3 million CDMA additions and a loss of about 300,000 TDMA customers. "By the first quarter of this year, there were 190 million mobile users in Latin America and the Caribbean region, up 40% compared to the 135 million recorded in 1Q04. This region now represents 11% of worldwide mobile users, catching up with the 12% that North America represents," Rojas said. In the region, voice is still the most important application for mobile users and will continue like that for many years, despite the rise of data applications such as SMS and chat, he added.