Ryan Alvarez on Viva’s Free Data, Telco-as-Ads Model & Scaling in Latin America with Data

In this episode of The Victory Show, Travis Cody sits down with Ryan Alvarez—CEO of Viva (Nuevatel PCS Bolivia)—to unpack a bold telecom disruption: giving customers free internet access and monetizing through advertising instead of traditional telco ARPU. Ryan shares why Latin America is a rare “crystal ball” market—where internet connectivity exists, but usage is still dramatically underdeveloped, creating massive upside for builders who know what’s coming next. He breaks down how his team took a struggling telecom with ~800 employees, stabilized it, rebuilt it to 1,200+, and launched a super-app offering free daily browsing, social media access, and even a mobile crypto token—all powered by an in-house family-led tech team. They also dive into Ryan’s earlier venture, iWolf Enterprises, where he and his partners scaled from scrappy ecom experiments to a $78M/year machine by using direct-response discipline: product-specific funnels, relentless testing, and turning cost centers (ads, fulfillment, call center) into profit centers. Ryan closes by revealing his long-term vision: build Viva into an advertising powerhouse that helps local businesses sell more efficiently, expand the model into new countries, and license the platform to other operators through a zero-upfront-cost rev-share partnership.