A TV Revolution Sweeps Latin America

Latin America has a population of 650 million, accounting for 15% of the world's population. As the economy develops in Latin America in recent years, more and more Latin American countries have a per capita GDP of over 10, 000 US dollars, such as Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, and Ecuador. The improvement in economy also stimulates people's interest in entertainment, leading to a surge in demand for TV services. Consumers are no longer satisfied with the original SD video, and are looking for richer content resources and better broadcast modes. Low ARPU also restricts the income of operators in Pay TV business. A TV revolution is therefore inevitable.

Android TV: Helping Izzi Telecom Build a Dual-Ecosystem

Izzi Telecom, the largest Pay TV operator and the second largest fixed-line operator in Mexico, has 4 million cable subscribers and 9 million satellite TV subscribers, providing TV services for many cities in the country. In recent years, the popularity of broadband has driven the explosive growth of OTT TV services. Compared with traditional TV services, OTT services have the characteristics of lower tariff and more flexible customization. As third-party content providers such as YouTube and Netflix are widely popular in Latin America, more and more traditional users begin to abandon operators' networks and embrace OTT services. This has brought huge challenges to traditional DVB operators such as Izzi Telecom. 

To cope with the impact of OTT, Izzi Telecom chose ZTE's DVB-C+Android TV dual-ecosystem solution for its transformation of TV services. The solution adopts the most popular Android TV operating system and supports both DVB-C and OTT modes. It adds rich video on-demand (VOD) services to traditional live TV services of operators, and also integrates the Google ecosystem as well as content-rich third-party services such as Netflix, Amazon and HBO, which are popular with users.   

Based on the solution, Izzi Telecom built a content platform with dual-ecosystem and multiple services, laying a solid foundation for fast deployment of HFC and FTTx, fast launch of new services, diverse user services, and ARPU improvement. With its leading technologies, rich content, and reliable products, Izzi Telecom will continue to lead the Pay TV market in Mexico.

DTH STB: Helping Claro Colombia Develop Satellite Services

Claro Colombia is an important branch of the AMX Group in South America, with over 3 million TV subscribers. With the growth in TV penetration in Colombia, the number of TV subscribers has exploded. However, most of these subscribers have low ARPU and are less interested in new services. Claro Colombia's major concern is how to complete annual service transformation for existing subscribers and attract new subscribers with a minimum Capex. 

Against this background, Claro Colombia worked with ZTE to launch the DTH STB to achieve fast growth in subscriber base. ZTE's DTH STB can provide a wide range of functions such as MPEG-2/MPEG-4/H.264 HD video decoding, live broadcast, PVR, advertising, and UI customization, delivering a differentiated video experience to users.  

Claro Colombia rapidly launched the DTH TV service. Each year, the total number of new DTH TV subscribers and existing subscribers who have completed the transformation of DTH TV reaches one million, and the ARPU value is also increasing. The TV penetration in Colombia will continue to increase in the next few years. With the DTH STB solution, Claro Colombia can help more new subscribers get TV services and help more incumbent subscribers complete service transformation. Claro Colombia will continue to maintain its leading position in the Pay TV market.  

Looking to the future, operators in Latin America will accelerate the TV revolution, keep close cooperation with ZTE in the industry chain, and adopt innovative product solutions to continually provide subscribers with more superior, professional, and secure TV services.