US logistics and asset tracking company NavStar Technologies is eyeing opportunities in Brazil and Chile as the next step in the firm's regional expansion plans, NavStar's CTO Jason Shin told BNamericas.
Shin said that NavStar, which focuses on the creation of GPS products and services for asset tracking and hands-free calling with voice navigation, already ships its solutions to Brazil.
NavStar is interested in expanding operations in Brazil due to its large economy, while Chile is particularly attractive because of its relatively advanced IT use, he said, adding: "People there really understand IT."
Company CEO Douglas Pritt told BNamericas that the firm is expecting to bill around US$17mn in its Latin American operations in 2009, compared to the US$1mn that the company expects to take in this year. He said NavStar has a strong focus on Latin America because the European GPS market is already saturated and the US "does not recognize the need right now."
The firm provides services through a business-to-business model and in many cases sales are being driven by new regulations.
"In Mexico City, they just passed a law [that stipulates] that all new commercial vehicles by 2009 have to have a tracking unit in [them]," Shin said. "Ecuador, [in] my understanding, is going through the same type of regulation changes."
NavStar mostly operates through channel partners, and the firm currently has about six such alliances in Latin America. It is actively recruiting new partners, especially in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, Pritt said.
NavStar recently closed a deal to provide asset tracking resources to Mexican personal security provider Grupo Diamante.
Under the terms of the deal, worth more than US$2mn, NavStar will supply equipment, software and technical services for Diamante's asset tracking solution. Navstar expects to ship 10,000 units during the next 12 months.
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