Industry conferences are like orchestras: they bring together many sounds which may be hard for the untrained ear to differentiate.
We at TeleGeography are well-equipped to listen to the many melodies sung at telecom industry gatherings. Most recently, I joined colleagues in São Paulo to discuss regional trends at the Capacity LATAM event.
A few weeks ago, TeleGeography headed back to São Paulo to participate in the Capacity Latin America 2024 conference.
There were few dull moments, with the Latin American wholesale connectivity market full of activity. Among the many discussion points, a few key themes are worth mentioning.
Let’s have a look.
The Latin American Satellite Congress held in Rio de Janeiro at the end of September provided a great opportunity to engage with some of the largest satellite communication companies in the world.
Looking back, there was one common theme that stood out: collaboration.
As we at TeleGeography have noted many times, the vast majority of global connectivity passes through submarine cables. But satellite networks are growing ever more important, both as complements to terrestrial systems and as last resorts for where it is hard (or expensive) to lay fiber.
For enterprises, that means a hybrid Wide Area Network (WAN) combining satellite and terrestrial connectivity is increasingly relevant.
Connectivity by satellite is not new, but expanding networks via low earth orbit (LEO) is a recent phenomenon receiving lots of investment.
As interest in LEO connectivity has grown, the number of companies looking to establish themselves in the market has also gone up. However, in recent conversations with satellite industry leaders, we’ve heard speculation that the market may have reached a saturation point.
That means mergers, acquisitions, and market consolidation are likely to occur. In fact, some of that has already begun to unfold.
Last month, the TeleGeography team joined scores of ICT infrastructure professionals in National Harbor, Maryland for International Telecommunications Week.
One of the many topics discussed was price erosion in Latin America. The main trend likely comes as no surprise: prices keep falling. But there is nuance to how price erosion is occurring in different markets.
Let’s explore the context in more detail.
As telecom analysts, my TeleGeography colleagues and I have been busy attending conferences and gathering market intelligence from many of the most prominent telecom companies around the world.
Recently, our travels took us to São Paulo and Mexico City for the Futurecom and Mexico Connect 2022 conferences.
There’s a lot going on in both the Brazilian and Mexican markets, so let’s recap some of the discussion themes that stood out.
Endeavors like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper have brought lots of attention to the expanding market for connecting more residential customers to satellite broadband.
But how are enterprises affected by the growing satellite market?
Anyone familiar with our Pricing Suite knows that São Paulo is Latin America’s de facto center for wholesale IP transit and transport, and reports the most competitive pricing in the region.
In other areas, we see that prices are falling as supply increases. Colombia is one example.
