Mobile messaging innovator DOTGO has predicted the top three trends for 2015 based on its observations from working closely with a number of tier-one operators across Latin American (LATAM) countries such as Mexico, Colombia, and Guatemala. While mobile is now fully integrated into people’s lives throughout the region, the consumer environment in LATAM poses some unique challenges for operators in 2015.
The top trends for the LATAM mobile telecommunications market in 2015 will be:
1. Restrained data plan usage will mean revenue challenges for LATAM operators
The number of smartphone users in Latin America will continue to grow in 2015. However, many budget-conscious consumers will opt to not use a data plan, or opt to use a data plan sparingly. Instead, many consumers will take the smartphone subsidy from their operator and remain “semi-connected” through WiFi hotspots to keep costs down. As a result, operators offering smartphone subsidies will not immediately see the hoped-for return from increased smartphone penetration. This means that LATAM operators will need to find creative ways to encourage mobile data usage and find alternative sources of revenue from the Over-The-Top (OTT) ecosystem.
2. Data revenues will not make up for decline of voice and SMS
As in other regions around the world, usage of voice and SMS will continue to decline. Although the uptake of mobile data plans is increasing in LATAM, it will not be sufficient to offset the decline of these core services. In 2015, consumers will accept the compromise of being “semi-connected” through OTT services in WiFi hotspots if it means saving money. Operators in LATAM will therefore face the familiar challenge of losing ground to OTT services that other operators have faced globally. Yet they will have a more difficult path to address this given the local consumer environment.
3. Operators will look to take advantage of their existing assets to differentiate themselves from OTT players
To avoid being side-lined by OTT players, LATAM operators will look to use their existing assets to provide a value-add and differentiator in the OTT space. They will be forced to look at their extensive infrastructure from voice, data, and messaging, through billing, customer support, and retail. While this same challenge is faced by operators around the world, there is a greater imperative for LATAM operators to deal with the growing digital tide, given the high proportion of pre-paid users and the gap between smartphone usage and data revenues. This necessity is what has already inspired some operators to launch creative and truly innovative SMS-based services in the region in 2014.
“Mobile users in countries like Mexico, Columbia, and Brazil want to get online but often wait until they have a Wi-Fi connection because they cannot afford to have a monthly mobile data plan. The opportunity for mobile network operators in 2015 is to give users great products that take advantage of the immense infrastructure that they have already built and that OTT providers lack,” said Stefan Gromoll, CEO of DOTGO. “These predictions are based on what we are already seeing in Latin America. Globally, there is a lot of discussion about the increasing adoption of smartphones. However, few talk about actual data-plan adoption, which is the real bottleneck to service adoption and revenues in these predominantly pre-paid markets. The unique and complicated environment in LATAM will require more creativity for operators to gain success with data services.”
