AmigoLatino becomes dominant video carrier to Latin America by ’09

Elliot Gold’s
For over 25 years the authoritative source for teleconferencing news and analysis

TeleSpan’s Prediction #10:

AmigoLatino becomes dominant video carrier to Latin America by ’09.

Some of you are saying “AmigoWho?” Well, let me fill you in. AmigoLatino is the brainchild of Gabriel Biguria, who immigrated to the US over a decade ago, got his bachelor ’s degree, capped off by an MBA, and ended up at Compaq/HP in charge of sales of the Presario home computer for Latin America. While others at HP floundered around the Presario, Gabriel saw that the way to make a profit was to more closely manage inventory. Most of us know now that the shelf life of PCs is short, and therefore if you make too many of any particular model, and they get passed by faster PCs, the slower PCs die in inventory of writedown disease.

One day, Gabriel began thinking of home…actually, I’m sure he did that every day, every hour.

He felt that if he missed his relatives and friends in Latin America, so did hundreds, thousands, actually millions of others, who now lived in the United States, either legally or illegally. That’s when he came up with the idea of AmigoLatino, a videoconferencing service that now allows Latin Americans living in the United States to see (more accurately, visit with) relatives living in Latin America, using videoconferencing. He came up with the business plan for the service, but more importantly, I think he really came up with the network solution. Today, he has a thriving service that offers 30-minute videoconferences for $40, delivers cheers and tears among distant relatives, and delivers a profit to his company. TeleSpan, and its readers, gave AmigoLatino 3rd place in our Wild and Unexpected Teleconferencing contest last year. It’s that good.

Don’t think it’s much of a market? Think again.

According to Associated Press, Latino immigrants to the United States sent $45 billion home in 2006, up 12% over 2005.

Don’t think there’s money down there already to build more business? Latin America has a population of 548.5 million, and has a GDP of $2.26 trillion (based on current exchange rates). The purchasing power of this population is put at $4.5 trillion.

I sat down with Gabriel over lunch a couple of months ago, and he served up a business plan so delicious that I had to stop eating what was already on my plate. I can’t reveal what he told me, but folks, this guy is on to something—something big!

I say that by 2009, he will manage more video and other data traffic to and from Latin America than any carrier-based videoconferencing service will.

Stay tuned.

About TeleSpan’s predictions by Elliot Gold:

I just looked at the calendar and realized that TeleSpan is now over a quarter of a century old (1981-2007), and this is our 12th year doing predictions. Been making predictions since 1996, and of my 110 predictions made so far, 83 have come true giving me a batting average of .750 (75%).

I decided this year to re-name myself “The Great Carnak†” vs. “The Crystal Bald.”

As I’ve explained in past Predictions issues, where I predict that a company will be successful, I am indeed cheering them on. Where I predict that a company is going to fail, I am wishing it wasn’t true. Like all of us, I want us all to share in a successful growing industry. Fact is, though, some things, some ventures, simply won’t make it. With more than 25 years of watching this industry as closely as I have, I feel that my job is to tell you what is real, and what is not.

Okay, enough. Let’s go!