A new push email service is being launched in Costa Rica by the country’s incumbent operator, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). The mass market service, branded Syncronizate, is based on Synchronica’s Mobile Gateway middleware, and will be used to add new push functionality to the existing ICE webmail service Acelera...

Movistar Chile, a subsidiary of Telefonica, will soon be able to offer its subscribers higher peak data rates courtesy of a new, more efficient mobile broadband network...

Haitian operator MultiLink S.A. has extended high-quality data services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) to a large number of subscribers across Haiti. With Nokia Siemens Networks’ microwave radio network, the Caribbean service provider has enhanced its network capacity and coverage...

Mexico’s most recent spectrum auction has awarded the winning bidder with a nationwide allocation of 30MHz in the 1710MHz to 2170MHz frequency band. The winning bid was placed by a partnership between the media company Grupo Televisa and the mobile operator NII Holdings (Nextel)...

Subscribers of Movistar, Argentina’s largest mobile carrier, now have access to Windows Live Messenger Java, a new service which allows clients to use Windows Live Messenger through their mobile phones by downloading a Java-based client from Synchronica...

Telefonica, one of the largest mobile operators in Spain and Latin America, saw its profits rise by 16% in the second quarter of 2010, with a weaker Spanish market being offset by an increase in revenue from Latin America...

Telecom Personal, the mobile subsidiary of Telecom Argentina, has launched a new push email service that will allow consumer, prosumer and business subscribers access to push email and synchronisation services without the need to upgrade or replace their existing mobile handsets...

Belize Telemedia, the only multi-play carrier in Belize, is preparing to launch the nation’s first joint voicemail system, which will be available to both wireline and mobile subscribers...

The ITU is leading an internation effort to speed up reconstruction of Haiti’s crucial telecommunications and ICT infrastructure destroyed in the earthquake of 12 January this year...

Prepaid.com, an online service for recharging the airtime of prepaid mobile phones, now allows anyone, anywhere in the world, to purchase minutes and other prepaid services for any of the more than 70 million Mexican prepaid mobile phone users...

In the aftermath of January’s devastating earthquake, texting traffic in Haiti has greatly increased. Now one of the country’s leading wireless providers, Voilà, has announced that it will upgrade its Business Support System solution and text messaging capabilities so as to better accommodate this increased volume of traffic...

Columbus Communications Inc., a Curacao-based Cable MSO, has recruited Cerillion Technologies to support its operations across several countries, predominantly in the CALA region...

Colombia’s mobile broadband market took off last year but speeds are reportedly erratic and rarely reach 1Mb/s - even in the major cities. These are key conclusions from the brand-new Research and Markets report, Colombia - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts.

Uruguay is a regional leader in several key indicators, such as adult literacy, teledensity, and Internet penetration. It was able to weather the global financial crisis better than most other Latin American countries while the downturn had little impact on its telecom market. A new report from companies and markets - Uruguay - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts - reinforces this optimistic appraisal...

A new report from Companies and Markets supplies information on the El Salvador telecoms market, stressing the challenges and changes that the country faces. El Salvador - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband sets telecoms in the overall context of El Salvador before  commenting on recent developments...

Inside Contactless, a provider of open-standard contact-less chip technologies, has announced that its MicroPass 4003 contact-less intelligent payment processor is powering the MasterCard PayPass contact-less payment technology recently launched in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil...

Subex, which provides Operations and Business Support Systems (OSS/BSS) for CSPs (Communications Service Providers), is set to strengthen its presence in Latin America. It is to provide its ROC fraud management system under a contract with Telefónica Ingeniería de Seguridad (TIS), who are acting for Movistar Colombia...

Alvarion customer Feira De Santana Municipality has won the Prêmio Anuário TI & Governo award for Best Digital City Deployment in Brazil. Its Feira Digital project brings 300,000 people together wirelessly as well as providing public services to the municipality...

Telefónica, one of the world’s largest telecommunications companies, and MoreMagic Solutions, a mobile solutions provider, have announced that US friends and family of Telefónica customers are now able to recharge Movistar mobile phones throughout Latin America...

Critical Path, a provider of messaging applications, has revealed search results indicating that consumers in emerging markets are dissatisfied with their social networking experience...

ABI Research is predicting that a strong economic base is set to boost revenues from Latin American mobile business customers by 9% this year. Expected figure for the revenue in question is US$11.6 billion...

The Russian WiMAX operator Yota has been granted bandwidth spectrum use in Peru by the Latin American country’s Ministry of Transport and Communications, following the operator’s winning bid for the $3.9 million contract...

The Dominican Republic will soon benefit from a new mobile WiMAX network, which is to be constructed by Samsung...

A new report from Companies and Markets provides a detailed analysis of the Central American telecoms market, listing great successes as well as markets which the authors considered to be under-achievers...

ITU has signed an important Cooperation Agreement with Singapore-based smartBridges Solutions, a leading provider of wireless broadband equipment, to provide WiMAX and WiFi systems to strengthen ITU’s on-the-ground disaster response capabilities...

GyPSii has been selected by Genasys as its exclusive mobile social network partner. In partnership with Telefonica, they will launch a consumer-focused application to subscribers across Latin America...

Siano Mobile Silicon, a supplier of mobile digital TV receiver chips, is set to bring Mobile Digital TV to mass-market levels in Brazil and China...

NII Holdings, Inc. has selected Nokia Siemens Networks to manage its network operations throughout Latin America...

 In what is believed to be the world's first m-giving campaign powered by 2-d barcode technology, delegates at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona are able to donate money to Haitian relief efforts by simply snapping a barcode with their mobile phones...

Designed to drive growth and boost revenues in Bolivia and Honduras, Comverse’s Voice HUB will be deployed via Millicom brand TIGO. Other benefits will be visual voicemail and call completion...

Maravedis has released its Brazil wireless broadband and WiMAX market analysis for 2010. Initial enthusiasm and success for WiMAX have cooled somewhat but 3G and cell have great futures. What follows is the Maravedis report’s executive summary...

Clickatell has extended its free SMS services to organisations providing aid to Haiti. The versatility of SMS has made it the communication channel of choice in the aftermath of the recent earthquake, and Clickatell’s move is sure to be welcomed not just by aid workers and residents in Haiti, but by those donating to the numerous charities providing aid to the country...

Brazil has long been a high performer in the world of emerging telecoms markets - in overall economic terms, she is a member of the CIRB group. And yet there are still challenges she needs to meet to become a mature telecoms power. Michael Schwartz analyses...