US VoIP platform vendor Cedar Point Communications believes cable companies will begin to target SMBs in Latin America with their internet and VoIP services offer, the company's Latin America managing director Chris Zanyk told BNamericas.
"In the US now, where cable companies have been doing triple play for a much longer time than in Latin American countries, apart from Chile which has been doing it for a decade, they are starting to reach their maximum capacity in the residential market and now going out to the small and medium business space. We want to see that take off now in Latin America in 2009," Zanyk said in the Futurecom telecoms industry conference held in São Paulo.
However, in Latin America, due to regulations, some countries are taking longer than others to adopt triple play technology on a large scale, he added.
According to the executive, the VoIP market has so far gone unscathed by the global financial crisis and the market shows no signs of slowing down, especially when considered as part of triple play offers. As a result, the company is optimistic for 2009.
"From 2006 to 2007, there was almost a double for us in terms of sales in the region and then the 2007 to 2008 period is not over yet but there is a continued growth," Zanyk said without providing percentage figures on growth expectations.
In the case of Brazil, the company closed a contract this year with Fortaleza-based cable operator Videomar, in Ceará state, mainly for technological protocols that Cedar Point had to develop and submit for rigorous testing with the national telecoms regulator Anatel.
"Outside the big players in Brazil, this is one of the first smaller or medium-sized companies to announce they are going to do a full triple play with their own equipment, on site, with their own platforms," said Zanyk. "Many companies host the voice component from another company, and some of them do not offer voice at all. It will be interesting to see how they [Videomar] are going to be able to do business and sell their own triple play."
At the same time, the executive believes Videomar's triple play offer in Fortaleza will be successful, using as a case reference another of Cedar Point's clients - Mexican cable operator Cablemás. The Mexican company has successfully been expanding its triple play service to regions outside the wealthy Mexico City and Monterrey area, such as in cities Cancún, Tijuana and Mérida, among others.
"Cablemás is finding there is a market in other regions so it is encouraging voice as an additional application to its offer," said Zanyk.
For Latin America, Cedar Point has 10 employees either living in the region or based in south Florida, plus another five employees based in Campinas, São Paulo state, at the company's lab where features and applications can be tested or whatever else may be necessary for deployment.
The company's main clients in the region are cable companies based in Chile, Argentina, the Caribbean, Mexico, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and Central America less Costa Rica.
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