Broadband has gained fame not only as the savior of fixed line telcos that needed to add another string to their bow - with mobile and internet services encroaching on their market - but also as the golden hope for socioeconomic development in emerging nations: the key to improving education and government, among many other areas. Indeed, when people talk about internet service, today it almost goes without saying that they mean broadband - yet the figures remain remarkably low in this region. In this report BNamericas studies the current nature of the market and the way it is developing.

One of the Brazilian government's outstanding achievements of 2008 was the successful modification of local laws to allow the merger of Brasil Telecom and Oi. It is no mean feat to create an organization capable of competing head on with huge international groups like Telefónica and Telmex, but the merger also raises the specter of the inefficient and expensive telecoms monopoly that Brazilians depended on before privatization and liberalization ocurred in 1998. In this report BNamericas asks whether full advantage has been taken of this latest market shakeup, which was an opportunity to set new ground rules.

Formal IP telephony over private networks and VoIP over the public internet were the starting points for convergence in the telecommunications realm, and continue to be some of the most talked about aspects of this latest "disruptive technology" trend. Yet research firm IDC recently estimated that only 3% of Latin America's voice traffic originates on IP networks. Granted, the IP trend has so far been directed more towards the corporate sector, and mobile telephony now accounts for the bulk of consumer airtime, but IDC's figure does ram home the fact that there is no need to sound the death knoll for long distance just yet.

3G services are now in full swing in Latin America, with a heavy emphasis on wireless broadband connectivity. But operators must not neglect the great majority of users who are still on 2.5G handsets and prepaid accounts, and there is still much to be gained by developing an array of value added services that will appeal to them. Recent developments show that there is indeed a lot going on in this respect.

Wimax has been a buzzword for several years now, and looked to takeoff when it was championed by Telmex in 2007, first in Mexico and then in the group's operations elsewhere in the region. However, Wimax user numbers are still low compared to fixed line broadband, and 3G access is a highly accessible and adequate alternative for first time broadband subscribers in many densely populated areas. In this report BNamericas asks how much of a market opportunity is left for Wimax and considers the strengths that should make it a permanent feature in the region.

Although the pool of Latin American IPTV users is very small at present - amounting to almost 60,000, while total broadband users in the region number some 26 million - the growth rate in 2008 was 139%, according to the Broadband Forum. IPTV is evidently at the same stage that mobile telephony was in the mid-90s, but there is a key difference between these two technological changes: most households already possess the main hardware item required for IPTV, in the form of a TV screen or PC monitor. The potential is formidable, but so are the barriers. In this report BNamericas highlights the groundwork being done by operators in anticipation of eventual IPTV legislation, and looks at the cases already underway.

It is well known that the international backhaul sector is subject to a cycle, swinging between overcapacity and undercapacity. The satellite segment is now in an undercapacity phase, with high demand, which places it in a strong position as the rest of the world grumbles about the financial crisis. In this report BNamericas looks at the dynamics behind this situation.

Research firm Point Topic recently highlighted Colombia as the fifth fastest growing internet market in the world during 2008. This new dynamism also comes at a time when convergence is redefining the telecoms market globally, and Colombia's market changes present the various players with a golden opportunity to add this into the mix.

According to research firm Frost & Sullivan the market for outsourced contact center services in Latin America will grow to US$9.73 billion in 2013, up from US$4.7 billion in 2007, and hence almost matching the US$10.5 billion data services market expected for 2013. This means contact center services will be growing at a CAGR of 10.9% for the seven years from 2007 to 2013, outstripping the 4.3% CAGR expected for data communications services, and the 7.6% CAGR expected for corporate telecoms solutions. In this report BNamericas looks at the reasons surrounding this high growth potential and asks what the growth will mean for the telecoms sector as a whole.

Much as 2001 was the year in which the region's overall pool of mobile users exceeded fixed line users, 2004 was the year Telefónica bought BellSouth's 10 mobile units to become a consolidated force against América Móvil, and 2008 was the year of 3G. So what will be the buzzword for 2009? In this report BNamericas pinpoints the areas that are sure to dominate the headlines in Latin America's telecoms sector this year and considers what degree of change they will bring about. This edition also includes our 2008 Year in Review and a ranking of the Top TEN telecom companies for 2009.