The GSMA, an association of global telecommunications operators that brings together companies such as América Móvil AT&T and Telefónica, has recognized that, despite having 2,000 million connections, 5G globally due to the growing demand for connectivity, paradoxically still fails to monetize the network, especially in Latin America.
According to the Association, Latin America is located within the lowest development thresholds in 5G, where level 50 is the rate of greatest growth and 30 is the rate of least progress. For example, Mexico is placed with a score of 24, while Brazil and Chile with 30 and 33, respectively. Nations such as Kuwait and Qatar are emerging as the most developed markets in 5G.
The country faces a major challenge to develop 5G due to the large investments involved in deploying infrastructure (networks, antennas, among other inputs) and the acquisition of spectrum bands, which is emerging as the most expensive input for use rights. Until now, Telcel, the subsidiary company of América Móvil, is the leader in 5G coverage, covering 125 cities in the country, while AT&T has deployment in 47.
“5G represents benefits for the future, but to realize this dream we must confront the realities that each region faces, explore the challenges. It is crucial that governments and regulators support these advances to make digital transformation a reality,” said Pablo Iacopino, research director at GSMA Intelligence, during the Mobile Broadband Forum (MBBF 2024), organized by Huawei.
One of the great challenges of 5G is to achieve mass adoption of use cases among users, who still see connectivity as a traditional way of communication. The image becomes more complex and paradoxical when it is taken into account that large technology developers like Huawei already have a vast number of applications that will help improve the financial perspective of companies; However, they must wait for the full development of 5G networks.
The GSMA director assured that it is necessary to modernize telecommunications regulation to encourage investment in networks to help effectively manage spectrum, one of the most important inputs for telecommunications, but the most complex to acquire in Mexico as in other nations.
Without the full development of 5G, nations may lose competitiveness. For example, nearshoring places Mexico as one of the countries with a greater vocation to attract investments from companies that seek to settle in the territory to begin the automation of processes, but without the development of this technology in networks, the objective of the companies could be diminished.
Add Comment