Week in research: Federal telework takes hold; Mexicans loving their broadband

Telework takes hold of the Feds: U.S. government agencies are beginning to make strides in advancing telework initiatives, a new report by Telework Exchange says. The majority of Telework Managing Officers (TMOs) surveyed--86 percent--said they would meet the June 7 deadline in establishing a sustainable telework program within their agencies, as laid out in the Telework Enhancement Act of 2010. However, several issues still need to be addressed including capturing data, managing program metrics, management support and technology support. And 70 percent of TMOs still need to update their telework policy to meet the Office of Management and Budget's July deadline. News release

Latin America high-speed rise: Mexico is emerging as a broadband access leader within the Latin America market, a report from Frost and Sullivan reveals. With some of the lowest prices for broadband in the world, Mexican consumers are rapidly adopting broadband with a resulting rise in household penetration from 21.8 percent in 2008 to 28 percent in 2009. Across Latin America, ADSL remains the most common method of broadband access as well as broadband offerings from telcos and continued deployment of networks including fiber along with competitive pricing bodes well for the region. Potential speed bumps in the market remain, however: service providers still depend heavily on their government in a number of areas including lower taxes and subsidies to fund infrastructure buildout, as well as adoption of Internet-enabled devices among lower-income consumers. News release

Outsourcing is the word: Service providers are increasingly outsourcing their networking services to equipment vendors, to the tune of $54.8 billion spent in 2010, according to Infonetics Research. "There's no question that managed services are the future for network equipment vendors; the May 18 Clearwire/Ericsson deal fully supports our thesis that manufacturers are shifting from box producers to service providers at the same time that telcos and cellcos are transforming into client-centric software-based companies, or 'softcos'," says Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure. News release

Infonetics outsourcing 2011