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Advertising mobile phones in São Paolo:
the key is making
money from low-income users |
This is not a good year to be a telecommunications company.
If you are one of these unfortunate entities, and if you're not in
bankruptcy, chances are you're saddled with debt, your shareholders
are screaming after seeing their investments all but wiped out and
the last thing they're interested in is adventures in the Amazon.
The bubble has burst, and the hangover has started.
At the height of the bubble, investors loved emerging-market
telecoms. Emerging markets were a huge opportunity for any
growth-minded telecoms company: if only a small proportion of the
population has a phone, the market potential is enormous. Wireless
companies, especially, jumped in with both feet: a whole new type
of country was envisaged, where most people would leapfrog the
fixed-line stage. Aggressive foreign-owned private companies would
revolutionize countries used to stolid state-run monopolies. No
more waiting for months and...
