Telefónica says lack of tech infrastructure is LATAM's main challenge
Juan Fernandez Gonzalez | 25-10-2013
Telefónica sees great opportunities for growth in Latin America but also points out that the region has important challenges for the future in order to fully participate in the digital world.
A lack of technological infrastructure along with educational and structural difficulties to accede the technology are, for Telefónica, the region's main issues which need to be solved in the near future.
For Santiago Fernández Valbuena, Telefónica Latinoamérica's president, the region has generated great expectations. It represents a growing market – 600 million people – and has a young and urban population – with 150 million under-14s and 80% of the population living in cities – as well as a middle class which is on the increase.
"Latin America offers great opportunities, especially for telecom services such as cloud, e-security, smart cities and M2M," said Valbuena. During Futurecom in Brazil, Telefónica's president explained that the region's telecom business grew 10% between 2008 and 2012. The pace of growth is expected to increase in the coming years, as some sectors like mobile communications – the smartphone penetration rate at 14% is low compared to other developed regions – still have a lot of growth potential.
"But to get Latin America to move forward, the compromise of all the telecom players is needed," said Valbuena, pointing both to the companies as well as to the sector's regulating agencies.
Telefónica is one of the key players in Latin America's telecoms market. "With over 215 million accesses and 179 million mobile clients, we have a leadership position in those markets where we are working," added Valbuena.
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