Digital Transformation in Latin America: The New Era of Telcos and ISPs

The Latin American Telecom Market, a Pioneer in Chile

Welcome to this in-depth conversation on The Latin American Telecom Market: A Pioneer in Chile. Today, we’re joined by John Guerrero, CEO of Wircom Telecomunicaciones SpA.

Wircom Telecomunicaciones SpA is a Chilean telecommunications company recognized for its agile approach to delivering high-performance connectivity and cloud-based solutions across Latin America. Founded with the mission of bridging digital gaps in underserved regions, Wircom has rapidly expanded its footprint by offering flexible fiber, wireless, and satellite services tailored to local needs. 

Joining the discussion is Sergei Vychuzhanin, co-founder of Aipix, a company specializing in advanced video intelligence and cloud solutions, along with Sebastián Jiménez, Aipix’s regional representative. Together, they explore how innovation in VSaaS and telecom services is transforming the region’s digital landscape, addressing challenges unique to Latin America such as infrastructure gaps, regulatory environments, and growing demand for reliable, scalable, and secure communication networks.

This conversation offers valuable insights into how local pioneers like Wircom are not only driving technological adoption but also shaping the future of connectivity and smart services in Latin America.

John Guerrero, CEO of Wircom Telecomunicaciones SpA, joins Sergei Vychuzhanin, a founder of Aipix, for a discussion on the evolving telecom landscape in Latin America. The conversation is hosted by Sebastián Jiménez, BDM at LATAM from Aipix, who represents the company in the region.

Introduction of Latin American Telecom Market

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): I’m very excited about today’s episode. We’re going to dive into the Latin American telecom market, with a special focus on Chile, a true pioneer in the region. To help us with this, we have two amazing guests.

From Chile, we have John Guerrero, CEO of Wircom Telecomunicaciones. John has more than 20 years of experience in the industry and is a key player in providing fiber and broadband services across Chile.

John Guerrero (Wircom): Thank you so much for the invitation. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): We also have our own Sergei Vychuzhanin, one of the founders of Aipix. Sergei also has over 20 years of experience, developing services and products for telcos and ISPs. Welcome, Sergei.

Sergei Vychuzhanin (Aipix): Thank you. Glad to be here.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): I’m also Chilean, just like John, and I represent Aipix in Latin America. To kick things off, John, I want to ask you a direct question. Based on your many years of experience, what do you think is the biggest difference between the Latin American telecom market and the rest of the world?

John Guerrero (Wircom): The main thing is our unique geography. Most of South America has very complex terrain, with a lot of forests, mountains, hills, and coasts. In places like Colombia, for example, you have to cross the entire continent, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, to provide service. Because of this, it’s very common to see a mix of technologies (satellite, fiber optic, and wireless links) all working together to reach certain areas.

Brazil and Chile Lead the Way

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That’s a great point. You mentioned Brazil, which has a huge market. Among Brazil and the other countries in the region, which would you say is the leader in innovation?

John Guerrero (Wircom): If you include Brazil, it’s definitely Brazil, followed by Chile. Brazil has the largest interconnection point in the world. It has more internet traffic than any other country, even more than the United States. All of South America, and a large part of North America, connects through Brazil.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That’s true. So Brazil is first, and you’d put Chile second?

John Guerrero (Wircom): In terms of speed, Chile has some of the highest internet speeds in the world. We’re ranked second or third. The big difference, though, is the size of the population. Chile is a small country with 18 million people, while Brazil has a population of over 250 million.

Sergei Vychuzhanin (Aipix): John, has it always been this way for Chile? Or is this a more recent development?

John Guerrero (Wircom): Chile’s technological development really took off after the 1990s. We transitioned from a military dictatorship to a democracy, which opened up the country to the world. We were one of the first South American countries to sign free trade agreements with Europe, North America, and China. This led to many international projects. Spanish and Italian companies, for instance, won concessions to build highways with free-flow systems, which required installing fiber optics. The University of Chile also started bringing in the first email systems and servers, making us pioneers in the region.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That’s an excellent point. I remember as a kid in the ’90s, I was using Windows 98 in school. I’ve talked to people in other countries in the region, and they didn’t have that same level of development at the time.

John Guerrero (Wircom): Exactly. I’m from an older generation, and I was in high school in the early ’90s. We had technical programs where we could study computer programming. I was programming in COBOL, Pascal, and FORTRAN when I was 15. Then Windows came along, and it was a marvel.

The Evolution of the Internet in Chile

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): John, I know that Wircoms is expanding beyond Chile. You’re working in other countries. With that in mind, is regional collaboration key, or is it overrated?

John Guerrero (Wircom): You have to understand that while we all speak Spanish, our cultures are very different. For me, entering new markets has been a slow process because I’ve spent a lot of time giving talks and doing consulting to understand the local cultures. For example, in Colombia, we’re focusing on B2B services, not the end user. We’re leveraging the experience and engineering that Chile has, which is about five to ten years ahead of many other countries. Our goal is to pass on that knowledge, just as European countries did for us. I worked for a Spanish company for 18 years, and a lot of our expertise comes from those international projects.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): So, Chile is now contributing to the region, just as Europe contributed to Chile in the past. That’s a great example. Now, what’s the market like in Chile today? Give us a snapshot.

John Guerrero (Wircom): Today, the internet has become a commodity in Chile. Building internet services is no longer a massive engineering project that requires a lot of resources. I would estimate there are about 200 small companies serving specific areas. While 94% of the population has some form of internet, including cellular, I think less than 80% have fiber optic at home. Our geography, being 6,000 kilometers long and only 350 kilometers wide, makes it very difficult to build out infrastructure.

But in the long term, I believe the internet will eventually be given away for free. I think telecom companies will have to shift from being “telcos” to being “tech companies.” The biggest challenge we have in Chile is the low cost of internet service. You can get internet for $10 here, while in the US, the cheapest plan is around $30 to $40. It’s unsustainable to keep lowering prices. Instead, companies will need to provide the internet for free and make money from value-added services like home security cameras, TV rentals, and home automation.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): So you’re saying the internet will be free, and companies will charge for other services?

John Guerrero (Wircom): Exactly. It’s the only way to sustain a business in this market.

Sergei Vychuzhanin (Aipix): That’s an interesting point. In this scenario, how do operators generate revenue? It’s one thing to compete on fiber, but how can you compete when everyone is giving away the internet for free? The additional services you mentioned would also need to be very competitive, especially when you’re up against companies like Google and YouTube.

John Guerrero (Wircom): This is one of the big challenges we face. The market is incredibly competitive. A new player in the market, for example, is willing to operate at a loss for five years just to gain market share. What happens when the market starts to become more concentrated?

Movistar, one of the biggest companies in the world, is selling its infrastructure here. They created a neutral network called Onnet, and they’re selling off their infrastructure to other operators. They’re becoming infrastructure managers, and they’re letting other players fight for the smaller market.

Wircom’s Strategy en Latin American Telecom Market: A Focus on Post-Sales Service

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): Given this competitive landscape, what is Wircom doing to stand out?

John Guerrero (Wircom): We’re going against the current. We’ve built over 650 kilometers of fiber. What we’re doing is offering our infrastructure to smaller ISPs on an exclusive basis, not as a shared, open network. The neutral network model, like Onnet, has been slow. When you have three or four different operators on the same fiber, it causes delays and problems.

Instead, we’re betting on the small companies developing their own niche markets and focusing on post-sales service. In Chile, everything is very centralized and managed from the capital. If you live in a rural area, it can take 48 to 72 hours for a technician to show up. A local operator could get there in six to eight hours, or even less if they’re in the same town. A customer can’t be without service for two or three days. Post-sales service and response time are our competitive advantage.

Ideally, we’ll eventually have dual connections, with a 5G chip as a backup. In Chile, 5G is very developed, with about 90% coverage. But that’s a costly solution that customers aren’t willing to pay for.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That’s true. The focus on rural areas and post-sales service is what makes Wircom different. What other things are you doing to stand out, perhaps with value-added services?

John Guerrero (Wircom): We started as a B2C company, but as we built our infrastructure, we realized we needed to help smaller operators. The average speed in Chile is now 500 megabits per second or higher, so we needed to help them compete. We also started a different business model, renting our infrastructure to larger national companies in areas where they don’t have coverage. For example, they might rent our fiber to connect their 5G towers.

We’re also developing our own software. For our TV service, we created our own OTT platform because the existing services charged per user. We felt like we were working for the software owner, not for ourselves. We created a basic but functional linear IPTV platform without a lot of bells and whistles. Our stats show that people don’t use all the channels anyway; they mostly watch the main five channels. The people who watch linear TV are typically over 40. Younger generations get their information from social media and YouTube. Our TV service is designed for that older generation.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): Developing your own software is a great example of how to differentiate yourselves and not be beholden to others. Now, what about other technologies? For example, Aipix specializes in video surveillance and smart cities. Is that something you’re looking into?

John Guerrero (Wircom): The topic of security is a common conversation everywhere in Latin America. Crime and safety are major concerns in every country, and there’s a strong sense of vulnerability. It’s a very good market for telcos to get into. We could offer security camera kits with a monthly fee. Unfortunately, customers in Chile are not willing to pay a lot for these systems. A basic security kit costs $50-$60, but when a thief breaks in, the first thing they take or destroy is the DVR.

So, the company has to make the initial investment and project the return. We’d have to offer it as a very low-cost subscription, and in Latin America, that subscription would have to be part of a bundled package.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That’s a great point. It all comes down to a bundled subscription service.

John Guerrero (Wircom): Exactly. You can’t just charge a customer per device. A typical home might have four or five cameras. You need to install the cameras, a switch, and all the wiring, which is a huge upfront investment. If you charge just one or two dollars per camera, the monthly bill ends up being the same as their internet plan. That’s a hard sell because the customer can just go to a store, buy a $50 camera kit once, and be done with it.

We need to think about new business models. We’re already inside people’s homes and businesses; the first step is complete. Now, we need to develop products that people actually want to use, from access control to smart alarms. Everything is on an IP network now, so we need to become technology companies. We have the cable in the house, we just need to develop the ideas to launch new and exciting products.

Collaboration and Differentiation

Sergei Vychuzhanin (Aipix): I have a comment on collaboration. Many customers don’t want to buy and install their own surveillance kits. Instead, they go to companies that specialize in installing these systems. We know these types of companies exist everywhere. Do you think there’s an opportunity for telecom operators to partner with these security companies? It would allow them to offer security services without having to build that expertise themselves.

John Guerrero (Wircom): Yes, that would definitely speed up the development of these services. In Chile, there are many security companies. Even DirecTV launched a security and 24/7 monitoring service with hundreds of screens in their monitoring room. But today, technology is becoming so accessible and digital. A technician who can install fiber optic cable can also install a network cable for a camera.

Telecom companies see these services as an additional product and a new source of monthly revenue, so they’re always interested. Smaller companies have an advantage here: they’re more flexible. A company like Movistar, for example, is like a big white elephant. It can take them two months just to make a decision, while a small company can make the same decision in a week or two. This flexibility allows them to innovate and adapt much faster.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): The smaller companies have less bureaucracy and a more direct approach. And those extra services are what ultimately attract and retain customers, right?

John Guerrero (Wircom): Yes. The internet is a commodity now; any company can sell you the same service. The traffic system in Chile is very well-organized. We have a separate national and international traffic system, and 70-80% of the content is in Chile. So, there isn’t much engineering expertise needed just to provide internet.

But if a customer has a hard time leaving because they have access control, security monitoring, and a host of other services with you, they’re much more likely to stay. That’s the key: giving the customer a good quality product with a real difference.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): Can you recall a specific example of a successful partnership or collaboration that Wircom has had?

John Guerrero (Wircom): I had some small Linux boxes made in China for an OTT service. We delivered them to a company called HiEx, which is based in Peru but operates in five countries. We helped them develop their OTT platform to be compatible with our hardware. Now, that same box is sold in Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. We participated in the entire process, from integrating the application to making physical changes to the hardware. For example, the box we built for Chile was very open, but in Central America, we had to change the design to keep out cockroaches and other bugs. So you have to constantly adapt your solutions for each country.

The Future of Wircom

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): You’re right, every solution has to be adapted to the characteristics of each country. On that note, what do we do with all the old hardware, like the old cameras, that’s sitting around? There are thousands of them that are either unused or no longer supported. Can we reuse them?

John Guerrero (Wircom): It’s a matter of price. In Chile, people are more focused on cost than quality, so you have a huge variety of products. Ideally, if the cameras are ONVIF, we can reuse them. But if they’re not, it’s very difficult. This is another reason why I think the service provider will have to make the investment. We would say, “We’ll replace your old cameras with our own cameras that work with our service.” It’s the only way to ensure the quality of the service.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That makes sense. We have to work with what’s available. Now, is there a particular milestone that you’re most proud of at Wircom?

John Guerrero (Wircom): I’m proud of the whole journey. We’ve been in the market for 15 years. We started with wireless services, and then in 2014, we began building our fiber network. Wircom was the first to build a mini data center in a province 200 kilometers north of the capital. We have our own CDN for Netflix, Google, and Facebook, and we distribute from there.

But opening our operation in Colombia was a huge milestone. We were profitable from day one, which is not a small thing. A company owner came to see our facilities and our operation in Chile and asked us to expand to Colombia. We made a big investment to standardize our system using Juniper for our core and HP servers. That level of standardization has been a huge selling point, and it’s why larger companies are now negotiating with us. They see us as a serious company that maintains a high standard, even though we’re a small player.

We’re also entering a new market: providing services to highways in Chile, including toll systems, SOS services, and security cameras. We’re always learning and diversifying our business to survive and thrive.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That’s impressive. Congratulations. How do you see Wircom’s Colombia operation in five years?

John Guerrero (Wircom): I believe our Colombia operation will be bigger than our Chile operation in five years. We might even sell our Chile business and move completely to Colombia. It’s a huge market, with 55 million people, and there’s a massive lack of services. For a long time, no one wanted to invest because of the political and social risks.

We’re using the same model we used in Chile. We’re starting in the provinces. I go there myself to talk to the ISP owners and find out what they need. What they consider a “small ISP” with 10,000 to 15,000 subscribers, we would consider a medium-sized ISP in Chile. We help them think bigger, teaching them about things like ASNs and IPv6, which is something many of them haven’t done before. We’re helping them transition from just reselling dedicated internet to building a more robust and professional operation. We’re creating a mental shift, which is something Chile has already figured out.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): So there’s a lot of room for innovation in Colombia. This is a great opportunity for you.

John Guerrero (Wircom): Yes. I’m passionate about what I do. I always have to be moving and innovating. As I always say, it’s 30% knowledge and 70% passion. To innovate, you have to be willing to make mistakes. If everything worked the first time, I would have bought Apple.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That’s a perfect way to put it. You have to launch pilot programs and test new technologies. That’s how you discover their true potential and keep innovating. Wircom is a great example of that. I’ve always respected your career and what you’ve accomplished, especially in connecting rural areas in a country with such a challenging geography.

Now, one final question, John: What’s one piece of advice you would give to someone who wants to start a telecom business in the region?

John Guerrero (Wircom): The most important thing is to be well-prepared. Study the market thoroughly before you start. There are thousands of options, but not all of them will be right for you. The initial investment can be very high. You could start small, like many ISPs in Chile, by using equipment like Mikrotik. It’s a great all-in-one solution for small companies because it can act as a router, a switch, and a server for a very accessible price. You have to study the market well and make decisions based on your own research, not just on what others tell you. As a business owner, every decision you make affects your wallet, so you have to be calm and think things through.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): That’s great advice. You have to test the waters, as we say in Chile. Sergei, any final comments? I’m going to close out the interview.

Sergei Vychuzhanin (Aipix): For me, this was very interesting. I learned a lot of specific things about Chile, its telecom market, and the huge difference between urban and rural areas. Thank you so much, John, for sharing your story and your expertise. Best of luck to Wircom.

John Guerrero (Wircom): Thank you so much for the invitation, Sebastián.

Sebastián Jiménez (Aipix): Thank you both. This has been a very interesting conversation. John, another big thank you. I send you a huge hug and appreciate your time and willingness to talk with us. We all learned a lot. To everyone watching, we send our best wishes and hope you have a great day.

Sergei Vychuzhanin (Aipix): All the best, guys.

John Guerrero (Wircom): Goodbye, everyone.

Conclusión on Latin American Telecom Market

As Latin America’s telecom landscape rapidly evolves, companies like Wircom Telecomunicaciones are proving that regional innovation can rival global standards. From pioneering VSaaS (Video Surveillance as a Service) to expanding high-speed connectivity in underserved areas, Wircom exemplifies how agility, vision, and local expertise can drive real impact. The integration of AI, cloud-native infrastructure, and intelligent video analytics is not just a trend — it’s becoming the cornerstone of modern telecom and ISP growth in the region.

This conversation between John Guerrero of Wircom and Sergei Vychuzhanin of Aipix underscores the shared mission of enabling digital transformation through cutting-edge, scalable solutions. With leaders who are deeply committed to innovation and community, the future of connectivity in Latin America looks not only promising but disruptive in the best sense.

To discover how your organization can benefit from AI-powered video solutions or partner in reshaping Latin America’s digital frontier, connect with Aipix or Wircom today. Whether you’re a telecom operator, ISP, systems integrator, or public sector leader, now is the time to act — and to be part of the transformation.

Let’s build the future of connectivity and develop Latin American telecom market, together.