Convergencia Research, Consultoría especializada en Latinoamérica y Caribe
Monday, October 13, 2014

Regional Players Map 2014

Five operators account for 75% of regional market

Regional Players Map 2014 - Credit: © 2014 Convergencialatina
Regional Players Map 2014 - Credit: © 2014 Convergencialatina

Claro, Telefónica, Telecom Italia, Oi and Directv totalize three fourths of the overall fixed and mobile telephony, broadband and television subscribers in Latin America, of the 22 countries surveyed in this Map edition. Concentration is higher in fixed broadband, where these big players hegemonize 94.5% of accesses. In mobile telephony it is 83.6% and in fixed lines, 72%. The figures go down to 52.2% in pay TV, mainly because Televisa and Grupo Globo participate in Sky’s shareholders structure in Mexico and Brazil, respectively.

América Móvil subsidiaries, that lead all four services, reach 312.2 million customers, according to the data disclosed in the company´s balance sheet until June 2014. It increased by 0.9% its mobile customer base and by 7.4% that of its fixed line customers, mostly driven by the pay television segment (+ 13.7%).

Telefónica, meanwhile, increased its number of mobile subscribers by 4.3% yoy, to 186.8 million. In fixed services, it reached 36.7 million, up 3.1%.

The Big Players Map 2014 edition shows that concentration moves forward and that only some operators gain market share by using convergence as their main strategy. Each company’s share, as illustrated in the map, arises from balance sheets, from regulators and from companies themselves, as well as from overall estimates per country and per segment.

Virtual operators’ larger share generates movements -though minor- in mobile telephony market. In Colombia, for example, Virgin -which operates on Telefónica’s network- increased by 298.5% its customer base in one year, up to 2.3% of the market in June. VTR, in Chile, stopped using its own network, to provide services by using that of Telefónica, generating an arduous discussion which led to a project on spectrum secondary market, in order to avoid frequencies underutilization.

Other important actors, state operators, find in the closure of the digital gap a common aim and move forward to providing universal access to broadband as their main challenge. On the other hand, regional private operators, resort to packaged offers and strategies to differentiate themselves from state operators and local companies that lose market position due to their lower economic power.

In this setting, pay TV continues a key factor for subscribers in the region to grow, despite the increasing adoption of video on demand and streaming platforms.

In case you may want a copy of this map, please contact suscripcioneslatam@convergencia.com

Comprar mapa