Latin America. Political and economic uncertainties in Latin American countries have a direct impact on the future business of the broadcast industry; however, there are projects that GatesAir continues to develop favorably in the region, said Alberto Salazar, sales director for Latin America and Central America of the company.
"We are doing very well, we have several projects working, but the uncertainty with (Donald) Trump, the North American Free Trade Agreement, has delayed the solution of all these projects a bit. If it weren't for that it would be perfect," he said.
On the participation of the company in the technological development of new local concessions of digital TV stations, the executive commented: "Thanks to that we have many projects, if it were not for that we would be displacing equipment, instead of new projects that are important and large. We have done very well, we have been in Mexico for many years, I think there is a company here that has a transmitter of more than 25 years, still working. The brand, as we were Harris previously and now we are GatesAir, is very recognized and that helps us a lot."
Salazar said that they have several projects both in Mexico and in other Countries of South America. However, the constant variations in currencies make the company's challenge complex: "We have quite a few projects in Mexico. The change from analog to digital in Peru, Bolivia, soon in Ecuador has helped us a lot. In Brazil (the variation of currencies) it gave us very hard, in Mexico it may give us very hard. The other thing is if the Free Trade Agreement is renewed, I'm not quite sure how it affects us, because I don't know what kind of tariff or tariffs we will have to pay."
And he commented on the company's near future in the Latin American region: "I think we will do very well, better than last year; if something doesn't happen with our president and he decides to put the black hand on everybody, I think we're going to do very well."
Text written by Vlad Martínez, special for TVyVideo+Radio
