Convergencia Research, Consultoría especializada en Latinoamérica y Caribe
Friday, October 23, 2015

Regional Players Map 2015

Old acquaintances join major players, in a mergers and acquisitions environment

Regional Players Map 2015 - Credit: © 2015 Convergencialatina
Regional Players Map 2015 - Credit: © 2015 Convergencialatina

The integration of operations was handled as commonplace during 2015 in the region, as a mirror of a trend led by Europe (countries such as France, UK, Spain, among others, pass from four to three operators in the fixed and mobile segments). The main Latin American markets -Brazil and Mexico- were the first to replicate it. Telefónica Brazil completed the merger with GVT, and even nourished from its human resources to bring fresh air to its corporate culture. And in the mobile market of the South American country, rumors of a reduction to three companies persist, accompanied by warnings from Telecom Italia on a possible review of its operations in Brazil due to the local economic crisis.

Mexico is going through a reconfiguration stage due to the entry of AT&T (which gradually integrates Iusacell and Nextel operations); assessment by América Móvil of different ways to mitigate the impact of having been declared prevailing agent in telecommunications; the merger of Axtel and Alestra; and the purchase of medium-sized cable companies by Televisa (Cablecom and Telecable were the latest acquisitions), which enlarges its market share while its dominance in pay television is defined.

The Caribbean had its map of big players reduced from three to two, following the merger of C&W and Columbus. Now, Digicel aims at exiting its once mobile exclusive status to compete against a player with wide reach in fixed networks and international traffic in the region.

In this consolidation environment there are -as it has been seen- more old acquaintances than new players. The landing of AT&T starts in Mexico but with DirecTV acquisition, the US company becomes installed in 19 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Meanwhile, Argentina's mobile market could have given rise to new figures, but the project of Arlink (Grupo Uno) as new entry after getting frequencies in AWS, 1900, 850 and 700 MHz, ended up in the hands of Arsat by decision of the Argentine government; and the local subsidiary of Nextel could remain in the coffers of Grupo Clarín, which acquired 49% of the operation (awaiting approval).

In the dismemberment of a former big player as NII Holdings, one of the few new faces for the sector appears, with the arrival of the British group Novartis to the Chilean operation, renamed as WOM.

For the 18th edition of the Regional Players Map, data from mobile broadband was incorporated, though without a ranking of leading operators. This is because regulators´ figures are not comparable among themselves: it would be advisable that countries ensure the viability of information, with a better opening of data, using criteria with a higher level of standardization. This is one of the challenges to really understand the evolution of mobile broadband in Latin America.

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