Landline and mobile telephony losses from VoIP are expected to exceed US$18.4 billion by 2014 in Latin America, reports local research house, Signals Telecom Consulting. Their report also expects that the regional FTTx market will record a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 31.64% in the number of homes passed in the 2009-2014 period. Launch of DOCSIS 3.0 services by CATV operators in Latin America will drive the deployment of VDSL and FTTx solutions.

Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela account for over 88% of the Latin American VoIP market. Increased coverage by UMTS/HSPA networks and prospects for the arrival in the region of LTE networks will encourage landline operator investments intended to increase transmission speeds for their cabled broadband offerings.

"What we have noted throughout the region is a desire by fixed-line operators and CATV companies to prevent a repeat of the phenomenon of fixed mobile for broadband services substitution. This is combined with a growing trend to differentiate double and triple-play packages not only by means of content but also through higher data transmission speeds. As a result, we detect greater emphasis by operators such as VTR Globalcom in Chile, Telmex Argentina and GVT in Brazil on investment on DOCSIS 3.0, FTTH and FTTN/VDSL respectively. In this scenario, services for Internet connection by means of 3G/4G networks will be positioned as accesses that complement those of their fixed-line counterparts," explained Jose F. Otero, President of Signals Telecom Consulting.

The region's high purchasing-power urban centers - such as Bogota, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo- will be the main focus of high-speed broadband growth. One consequence of the increase in broadband access is a greater use of VoIP. For example, operators such as Axtel in Mexico offer VoIP incorporated to commercial packages that include unlimited calls to local destinations and local long-distance and international services. Other operators, such as ETB in Colombia and Megacable in Mexico, also have alliances with VoIP providers such as Net2Phone and Skype, respectively that enable expansion of the potential market for their services.

In the case of mobile networks, it can be seen that the increase in UMTS/HSPA network coverage, the launch of pre-paid flat rate data offerings and the availability of advanced mobile devices will help ensure that wireless VoIP service revenue will exceed US$8 billion by 2014.

These reports highlight the fact that no operator will restrict itself to a single technology platform to offer broadband and/or Pay TV services.

"This will lead to new alliances in the market, reinforcing agreements between DTH service providers such as Dish Networks and DirecTV with other operators in the region. We also expect greater interest in the resale of mobile services under an MVNO system by those cabled broadband service providers wanting to complement their offering with mobile Internet connections. Lastly, the technological development of operators in the region is quite clearly defined. In the mobile segment they will all migrate to 4G by means of LTE, while in the case of cabled networks it has been observed that Telefonica seems to be leaning towards the deployment of FTTH and Telmex will develop its CATV networks on DOCSIS 3.0, while in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico it will also deploy FTTH," Otero concluded.

The report identifies Colombia as the leading candidate for the launch of DOCSIS 3.0 in the next 12 to 18 months. On the other hand, the low level of competition in the Peruvian broadband and Pay TV markets makes it unlikely that a commercial FTTH or DOCSIS 3.0 offering will be made for the residential sector in that country.