Brazil’s telecoms market: The state of play

Brazil registered 345 million telecoms accesses in July, down around 700,000 in the month and up by 6.5mn compared with the same month of 2023, according to data from regulator Anatel.

Despite the monthly reduction, the ICT sector has been a key driver of the economy.

Overall, the information and communication market grew 6.1% year-on-year in Q2 and 1.7% quarter-on-quarter, according to GDP data statistics bureau IBGE released on Tuesday.

In Q2, the economy grew 1.4% in seasonally adjusted terms compared with Q1. The economy grew 3.3% year-on-year, meaning the ICT sector expanded far more in the period.

The highlights in July include 5G, which continues to grow and is approaching 31mn connections, and Claro's rise in the fiber segment.

Despite being leader of the fixed broadband market, Claro's base had consisted almost entirely of HFC or copper connections, but now, the company is the third largest FTTH provider.

BNamericas takes a look at the main highlights below.

MOBILE

With 30.9mn accesses, 5G reached 11.8% of Brazil's mobile base, led by Telefônica Brasil (Vivo) with a 38% share. Claro followed with 36.2% and TIM with 25.6%.

Considering all technologies, Brazil had 262mn mobile accesses, with Vivo accounting for 38.7%, or over 101mn lines. The company expanded its mobile base by 3.6% over July 2023.

Claro had a 33.7% share, growing its base by 4.8%, TIM 23.7% (+1.4%), Algar 1.6% (-8.6%) and Datora 1% (+16.5%).

Of the three leading players, only Vivo and TIM were able to expand their mobile bases.

Brazil’s national mobile base is now 59.4% postpaid and 4G is the leading technology with 73.3% of the total. Legacy technologies 2G and 3G, in turn, accounted for 7.7% and 7.2% of connections.

FIXED BROADBAND

The fixed broadband market is nearing 50mn accesses and a penetration rate of 24.5%.

Although current figures usually change in subsequent months due to discrepancies in data submitted by internet service providers, they are still notable.

The number of accesses grew by 2.3mn in one year to 49.7mn, led by Vivo and Claro. Among internet service providers (ISPs), Desktop was a highlight. 

Considering all means of access and technologies, Claro remained fixed broadband market leader with a 20.4% share, Vivo had 14.2% and Oi 9.3%. Only Vivo grew in the month.

Fiber optics accounted for 75.6% of the total, followed by coaxial cable with 17.3%, radio (3.8%), metal cable (2.5%) and satellite (1%).

Vivo continues to lead the fiber segment with a 17.6% share, followed by Oi (11.6%). 

But Claro jumped to third place, surpassing ISP Alloha (EB Fibra), and ending July with 4.3% of total FTTH accesses.

Alloha had 4.2%, Brisanet 3.6%, Vero 3.6%, Desktop 2.9%, Algar 2.2%, Unifique 2%, TIM 2%, Brasil TecPar 1.7% and Alares 1.6%.

Small ISPs and other providers without a nationwide footprint had a combined 42.8% share of the fiber broadband market and 37.9% of the total fixed broadband market.

Regarding satellite broadband, Starlink's share grew to 45.9%, representing 224,500 accesses. It was followed by Hughes (36.1%), Viasat (5.1%), Telebras (4.2%) and Claro (4%).

FIXED TELEPHONY AND PAY-TV

The country had 23.4mn fixed telephony subscribers in July, down from 23.8mn in June. 

The customer base includes concession-holders and companies providing the service under the authorization model.

Considering both authorized players and concessionaires, Claro operated 30.2% of all accesses in service, followed by Oi (25.8%), Vivo (25.5%), Algar (4.2%) and TIM (2.8%).

Pay-TV numbers fell again, to 10.2mn from 10.5mn subscribers. 

Satellite technology accounted for 51.9% of all pay-TV accesses, followed by coaxial cable (36.2%) and fiber (11.8%).

Market leader Claro had a 48.8% share of the pay-TV market, followed by Sky with 29%, Oi 10.3%, Vivo 7.9% and others with 4%.