Narayan AmmachchiLatin America will lose an enormous amount of business opportunities if it delays launching 5G networks, say experts.
The world added as many as 79 million 5G connections between Q4, 2020 and Q1, 2021, but, during the same period, barely 1,697 people in Latin America and the Caribbean accessed the high-speed telecom service, according to Omdia.
According to the report, 277 million Latin Americans will be able to get 5G connections by 2026.
Brazil, the region’s largest economy, has just announced a date to auction its 5G spectrum networks. The auction was originally scheduled for March 2020 but was delayed due to interference issues with satellite TV broadcasts and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Analysts say that Brazilians will have to wait for another three months to gain access to the high-speed service. Meanwhile, fellow South American nation, Chile, recently inaugurated Latin America’s first 5G zone.
Healthcare, education and public sector services will be the biggest beneficiaries of 5G networks in the region, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
5G networks speed up digital transformation, helping the region increase its GDP to US$293 billion by 2030, says the UN agency.
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