The Brazilian regulator Anatel’s telecom numbers for 2012 included some interesting highlights: 3G connections increased and both pre-paid and GSM shares decreased in Brazil. Plus for the first time, Nextel was included in Anatel’s rankings. Last year, a little more than 19.5 million new mobile lines were added in Brazil for a total of 261.78 million mobile lines, representing an 8.07% increase in the total subscriber base compared to 242.2 million in 2011. Brazil has now achieved a penetration of 132.78 accesses per 100 inhabitants.
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Mobile broadband reached 59.19 million accesses, of which 52,467,528 were WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) and 6,725,434 were from data broadband terminals. Last year, Brazil had 41.1 million 3G accesses: 33,240,409 were WCDMA and 7,873,996 were from data terminals.
Although the largest share of mobile lines are still pre-paid (80.53% or 210.82 million lines) and used GSM technologies (74.76% or 195,709,561 lines), their numbers are decreasing. In December 2011, 81.81% of total subscribers were pre-paid, and 82.37% used GSM technologies.
Telefónica’s Vivo kept its market leadership, holding a 29.08% share, followed by TIM with 26.87%; América Móvil’s Claro (24.95%); Oi (18.81%); CTBC (0.18%); Sercomtel (0.03%); the MVNO Porto Seguro (0%, but 8,300 access) and for the first time, NII Holdings’ Nextel was ranked. At the end of last year, Nextel had quietly launched 3G data plans.
Broadband access
In addition to Anatel’s report, the Brazilian Association of Telecommunications (Telebrasil) released its broadband access numbers.
According to Telebrasil, Brazil ended 2012 with 86 million broadband accesses, an increase of 45% compared to 2011. Mobile broadband showed the most significant change in 2012 access numbers, posting a 60% growth compared to 2011.
Telebrasil reported that 27 million new accesses were activated in 2012 at a rate of one new broadband connection per second.
For mobile broadband, 52.5 million accesses used a 3G cellular connection, including smartphones, and 13.5 million were made via data terminals, including modems and Internet access chips connecting machine-to-machine (M2M).
The 3G coverage grew 24%, reaching 3,285 cities, where 88% of Brazil’s population lives. This total surpassed the government’s stated coverage obligations by more than three times. The government had set a goal for 928 cities to be covered with 3G networks by April 2013.
The 24% increase in 3G broadband coverage meant that 635 new municipalities were covered in 2012.
