Although 3G networks in Brazil’s capital cities of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are newer than those in London, their perforance is worse. A recent survey conducted by Informa Telecoms & Media compared these three cities’ mobile broadband infrastructure.
“London has more subscribers and better performance in an older network. In addition, they are much heavier users of mobile TV, videos and data, which require more bandwidth,” said Marceli Passoni, Informa’a senior analyst. Informa highlighted the fact that both countries showed similar speeds for mobile broadband Internet, but said that the number of users and the intensity of use must also be considered.
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The survey showed that in 2010, data traffic in Brazil was half that of the UK. However, by 2016, it is expected that Brazilian traffic will surpass that of the UK, which will require investments from carriers in 3G networks. “Today, 3G service is immature in Brazil, but it has a huge potential for growth,” said Marceli.
The arrival of low-end smartphones at US$100 in Brazil has contributed to the data traffic growth, proving that demand exists. So, if the wireless industry could address this, offering affordable feature devices and data packages, traffic would be able to increase even more.
This is significant for the country as low-income consumers are given the opportunity to access a large range of services through their mobile phones, such as social networks, e-mail, m-banking and the Internet.
According to Informa, in 2016 Brazil will reach 40% smartphone penetration, and the country will account for 66% of the total smartphone shipments in Latin America in 2016, with 21.8 million units.
Informa’s survey showed that London’s average measurement results were comparable with those of Sao Paulo and Rio, but London noted superior performance under heavier network load conditions, as expected in more mature networks.
Related to the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games, the consultant firm said that Brazilian operators should carefully assess and forecast subscriber and traffic patterns to make sure that the networks will operate satisfactorily.
Several technologies could help mobile operators, such as smaller cells in traffic hotspot areas, adoption of more efficient wireless technologies such as HSPA+ or LTE, improvement of backhaul and backbone network capacity to transmit all data traffic without congestion, and more spectrum if available, Informa noted.
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