Latin America Telecom War Heats Up

Latin Business Chronicle write a lengthy analysis of the Latin America mobile telecom market after the $369 million bid for Colombia Telecomunicaciones by Telefonica, which "comes less than a week after Mexican operator Telmex announced that it and its international wireless arm, America Movil, would spend $3.7 billion to acquire three Verizon properties in Latin America."

Many believe the Latin America market is consolidating with "Telmex and Telefonica as the two dominant players in Latin America." Sergio Cruz at Pyramid Research said, "The region is moving to where these two will be main players. I don’t see any other traditional players, Western European operators like Vodaphone, coming to Latin America."

The article quotes liberally from a recent Yankee Group report that says the recent deals solidify "the market’s migration from many players to a twoplayer duopoly of Telefonica and [Telmex/America Movil]. Now these operators will represent 45 percent of all fixed lines and over 70 percent of mobile lines in Latin America."

The article takes a look at individual Latin American markets such as Colombia, Venezuela, Mexico, The Dominican Republic and Brazil.