Latin America could see 22mn lines ported by 2014 - study - Regional
Latin America could see 22mn lines ported by 2014 - study - Regional
Saturday, November 21, 2009
(BNamericas.com) - Latin America could see 22mn lines ported by 2014, with Mexico and Brazil as the most dynamic countries in that regard, according to a report by Signals Telecoms Consulting.
Since 2008, four markets in the region have adopted number portability (NP): Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and the Dominican Republic. NP was already available in Puerto Rico, Panama (fixed), and several Caribbean islands that fall under European regulations.
In 2010, Colombia, Peru and Panama (mobile) will introduce NP, and Chile is expected to do so by the end of 2010, or beginning of 2011. Other markets have not been clear on implementation dates, but are likely to follow suit in the short term.
In a report comparing the impact of NP in the US and European markets, Signals said that NP is a valuable tool to boost competition, but that there is unlikely to be an avalanche of requests to port.
The main impact of NP will be to make operators more driven to retain clients.
The total number of mobile lines ported in 2014 will be slightly above 3% of the total mobile lines in service throughout Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, Signals predicts.
"The number of mobile ports will be moderate in Latin America because NP appears to be a competition tool in itself. Its potential will be limited if it is not combined with other complementary policies such as allowing MVNOs, obliging operators to unblock subsidized mobile handsets and monitoring the fines charged to users for ending their contracts early," Signals analyst Carlos Blanco said.
Blanco told BNamericas that given the different regulatory environments and the number of competitors in Mexico and Brazil, it is difficult to compare them with the US and Europe.
The analyst said that while NP in all markets obliges competitors to be more aggressive, it does not tend to lead to much churn.
Mexico and Brazil will see the largest numbers of ports over the next few years due to their size, and also because they were among the first markets in the region to introduce NP....
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