According to the latest research from Dataxis, 34 LatAm mobile operators have already deployed OTT as an added value product for their clients.
Moreover, some of the operators, such as América Móvil and Telefónica, are keen to add third party platforms to beef up their TV offers.
Dataxis also says there are 11 cases of mobile networks only offering third party OTT – mostly Millicom subsidiaries, but also TIM Brazil and others. Both groups service 591 million lines equivqlent, representing 86% of the total.
Dataxis contends that with the rise of LTE and the extended base of smartphones, mobile operators are ideal partners for OTT enterprises. Furthermore, mobile companies can solve billing and collection problems which hinder the adoption of OTT in LatAm.
OTT remains an effective way to access the video business for mobile operators. The Dataxis quarterly assessment tracks 170 mobile companies, and 79 are linked to traditional Pay-TV operations. This group owns 59% of the mobile market, much less than the group of mobile operators associated with OTT.
For the third quarter of 2017, 78 mobile operators in LatAm were not associated to a traditional Pay-TV operation or an OTT offer. However, this target group handled only 46 million of lines, representing 6.7% of the total.
