Founding member Claro is bringing Plug and Play's operation to Brazil

The telecom service provider joins the global innovation platform aimed at finding new business opportunities within the market

News provided by

Plug and Play

Sep 18, 2019, 14:24 ET

SÃO PAULO, Sept. 18, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Claro is the first telecom in South America to join forces with global innovation platform Plug and Play as founding partner in Brazil, which opens its doors on September 18 in São Paulo. The partnership creates a model where startups will be supported when scaling up through corporate strategic assets, contributing to the insertion of Brazilian companies in the global open innovation ecosystem.

Plug and Play opens a new office in São Paulo, Brazil. From left to right: Jackie Hernandez (SVP Global Partnerships, Plug and Play), Rodrigo Duclos (Chief Digital Officer, Claro Brazil), Francisco de Frutos (Director, Food & Agro, Plug and Play Brazil)

Plug and Play's office in Brazil will offer startups direct contact with global markets, such as Silicon Valley, China and more, as well as mentoring from leading companies executives in their segments – such as Claro – in order to grow and to develop new products and services.

"Transformation and innovation are the purpose of Claro, manifested by brand positioning and on the search for new technologies solutions and new partners to our business. The partnership with Plug and Play establishes a large ecosystem of collaboration, acceleration and co-creation with startups, especially in the areas of IoT, Smart Cities, connected homes and cars, Industry 4.0, Agriculture 4.0 and FinTechs," says Claro's Marketing Director, Marcio Carvalho.

Innovation and pioneering

The partnership with Plug and Play is an opportunity for Claro to position itself as a market innovation leader and a new hub for connections. The operator already has several initiatives focused on connectivity, modernization and creation of new technologies.

Based on that, the carrier recently announced with Chevrolet the arrival of the first connected car manufactured in Brazil, offering "Wi-Fi powered by Claro," allowing customers to hire data packages and sharing this with their family and friends on the go. The company is first telecom service provider to offer connectivity using e-sim technology in Brazilian market along with Apple on Apple Watch. This technology enables real-time vehicle monitoring by GM, who can interact with the vehicle owner in cases such as problem diagnosis or preventive vehicle overhaul.

Claro is also interacting and using startups to enhance its customer experience and reduce costs by streamlining processes and introducing new methods and technologies. "The idea is to evolve the relationship with startups from an standard vendor model to a partnership and intellectual property sharing model, scaling and monetizing the opportunities," says Digital Director, Rodrigo Modesto Duclos.

Claro is also working on other solutions to offer Internet of Things (supporting the growth of Industry 4.0), Agriculture 4.0 and FinTechs markets in Brazil for new business related to data management and advanced advertising.

To support all of these, Claro has been investing in network infrastructure and digital platforms, bringing new features and new B2B offerings.

This innovation by design behavior has enabled Claro to pioneer through all mobile internet generations deployed so far (3G, 4G and 4.5G) and also the first telecom to install a 5G antenna in Brazil – this network will significantly improve the customer experience, enabling critical applications such as telesurgeries, autonomous vehicles, augmented and virtual reality and many others. Claro's Technological Reference Center, in Ilha do Fundão (RJ), was chosen by ANATEL to be the homologation center for 5G technology in Brazil. Last year, at Futurecom, Claro ran an 8k video broadcasting demo within Rede Globo, the largest video definition available so far, over a 5G test site connected to it's network.

ABOUT CLARO

Claro is a leader in telecommunications in Latin America and one of the largest multiservice operators in Brazil, present in all regions and states. It is in over 4,200 Brazilian cities and its networks provide coverage to over 96% of the population. Claro offers seamlessly integrated connectivity, entertainment, productivity and digital services solutions across multiple fixed and mobile platforms. It is a leader in Pay TV, broadband and the fastest growing mobile operator. Through Embratel, it also leads the enterprise services segment, which includes cloud, telecom, IT and network and application security offerings. Claro was also pioneer on the deployment of all generations of mobile internet in Brazil, including 4.5G, which allows you to surf 10x faster than the traditional 4G network. It is a leader in connection speeds for both mobile and fixed services with ultra-speeds. Claro is part of the América Móvil group, in 25 countries in Latin America, Europe and the United States.

ABOUT PLUG AND PLAY

Plug and Play is a global innovation platform. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, we have built accelerator programs, corporate innovation services and an in-house VC to make technological advancement progress faster than ever before. Since inception in 2006, our programs have expanded worldwide to include a presence in over 25 locations globally giving startups the necessary resources to succeed in Silicon Valley and beyond. With over 10,000 startups and 300 official corporate partners, we have created the ultimate startup ecosystem in many industries. We provide active investments with 200 leading Silicon Valley VCs, and host more than 700 networking events per year. Companies in our community have raised over $7 billion in funding, with successful portfolio exits including Danger, Dropbox, Lending Club and PayPal. For more information, visit www.plugandplaytechcenter.com.

SOURCE Plug and Play