Edgeware expands LatAm
presence
Distributed video delivery
specialist Edgeware is
opening a new sales and
support office in Mexico as
part of a continuing effort
to better service current and
future customers in Latin
America. In addition, the
company has confirmed the
addition of Rafael Lemarroy,
senior solutions architect, to
the new office.
The new sales and support
office, which is located in
Mexico City, will enable
Edgeware to solve local
market challenges and equip
operators in the region
to deploy and scale new
attractive services. The new
office will also help Edgeware
provide existing and future
customers with superior
customer service and give the
company the ability to tackle
the needs of operators in
Latin America in real time.
“We have seen an
increased interest in Latin
America for content delivery
network (CDN) solutions.
Services such as multiscreen,
cloud DVR, and time shift
TV are being evaluated
and deployed by most of
the major pay-TV service
providers in the region,”
said Joachim Roos, CEO at
Edgeware. “The new office
and the addition of Rafael will
help extend our established
reputation and footprint in
Latin America.”
With a decade of
experience in the industry,
Lemarroy most recently served
as sales engineer at Cisco
Systems. Prior to that, he was
sales engineer at Motorola
Mobility. Lemarroy will work
closely with customers to
ensure that new services are
brought to market quickly and
successfully.
“I look forward to
accelerating the company’s
growth and market
leadership,” said Rafael
Lemarroy, senior solutions
architect at Edgeware.
Peru: Over half pay-TV connections pirated
P
irated pay-TV in Peru represents
52% of total connections,
according to Martha Ochoa,
executive director of Alianza contra
Piratería de Televisión Paga (the
Alliance Against Pay Television Piracy).
Ochoa revealed the findings at a briefing
where the involvement of local operators
DirecTV, Claro and Movistar in the
Alliance was confirmed.
Ochoa advised that this unofficial market is
responsible for an annual loss of about PNS
170m (€49m) for taxes not paid to the Peruvian
Government. In 2014, Alliance analysis of INEI
and OSIPTEL figures suggest legal connections
totalled 1.4m, with pirated connections at 1.5
million.
Ochoa said the Alliance sought to create
a stable investment environment by the
implementation and commitment of regional
and bilateral agreements. “This is only possible
by adopting specific laws against piracy, and by
regional cooperation,” she declared.
“We are aware that this is a long path to
travel, but we have been working actively with
all stakeholders, as much as with the State and
with the population to commit to addressing
this issue as well. We have a regulatory
framework that allows us to apply the laws in
the right way for those who break the law, but
also allows us to take civil action on behalf
of those who have been affected by piracy,”
said Gian Marco Asencio, manager, legal and
government relations at DirecTV.
OTT video ‘Killer App’ for LatAm
home broadband
According to research from analysis
firm TDG, Latin America is poised
to become an important market for
OTT vendors of all kinds, whether
equipment, content, or service
providers. El Futuro de TV - OTT Video
in Latin America, 2015-2025, TDG’s
first foray into the Latin American TV
market, offers an original analysis
of the social, cultural, economic, and
technological factors shaping this
emerging market. It also features
detailed OTT and TV viewing forecasts
for key Latin American countries.
“Latin America is an important global
market by virtue of its size, growth, and
cultural relevance--and, of course, its
crossover with an increasingly Hispanic
US market,” notes Joel Espelien, TDG
senior analyst and author of the report.
“This developing opportunity was not
lost on Netflix, which first entered the
market in 2011 and is now available in
43 countries across the region.”
As of April 2015, Netflix reported more
than five million subscribers in Latin
America, less than originally expected.
Recent growth, however, has spurred
Netflix to invest heavily in original
Spanish language content specifically
designed for this market. “The fact that
Netflix is expanding its efforts in the
region should send a strong message to
others that the time for entry is now.”
As proof, Espelien points to significant
changes over the past two decades,
including: a growing young population;
a common Spanish and Portuguese
language media market; and the
emergence of an educated, urbanized
middle class. Combined, t