Hosted unified communications in Latin America to experience ten-fold increase by 2020

BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA: The Latin America (LATAM) hosted Internet protocol (IP) telephony and integrated unified communications and collaboration (UCC) applications market remains on a rapid growth trajectory.

Customers are increasingly realizing that the hosted model and operational-expenditure (OPEX) modality enhance flexibility, enable easy scalability and expansion. With hosted solutions, enterprises can also constantly update their complex communication systems with state-of-the-art technology and without further financial burden.

Hosted IP telephony and integrated UCC application vendors need to promote these advantages to customers and forge stronger channel partnerships to thrive in the Latin American market.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, Analysis of the Latin American Hosted IP Telephony and Integrated UCC Applications Market, finds that the market registered revenues of $80.7 million in 2013 and estimates this to expand ten-fold in the coming years, reaching $839.4 million in 2020.

"As almost no initial investment is required to deploy hosted, pay-as-you-go communications solutions, barriers to adoption among small and medium businesses are low," said Frost & Sullivan Information & Communication Technologies Industry analyst, Sebastian Menutti. "Thus, hosted IP telephony and integrated UCC applications will gain traction in this segment, in addition to the large distributed enterprise and government segments."

Already, end users across application segments can choose from a wide range of hosted solutions, including video, mobility and multiple-devices access. Even so, Latin American service providers are developing more solid hosted communications solutions.

As some vendors in Latin America have not yet introduced their full-fledged hosted communications portfolio, a larger number of platforms are anticipated to be available in the next 12 to 18 months. While this will broaden the options available for regional customers, it will also boost competitive pressures. Consequently, prices of hosted communications solutions will drop. This will reduce market participants' profitability but drive adoption rates.

The longer-than-average renewal period of communications infrastructure in Latin America is also checking the pace of market development. Additionally, concerns on the security of hosted communications solutions among some end users hinder sales.