Brazil’s telecoms market: The state of play

There was a new set of twists and turns in Brazil's telecoms market in June, as nearly 344 million broadband, mobile, landline, and TV accesses were registered, down 1.8mn from the previous month and up 5.7mn year-on-year.

Among the highlights of the month, Telefônica Brasil (Vivo) surpassed América Móvil’s Claro Brasil as the leading 5G player.

The two companies have been in fierce competition in recent months, with Claro, the second largest mobile company in the country in overall accesses, gaining a bigger 5G market share than Vivo.

In the satellite market, Starlink continues to advance and reached third place in adding customers.

Claro, which still has a small FTTH base compared with other national players, added more than 251,000 fiber broadband customers, only behind Vivo, which increased its FTTH base by 372,000 customers.

BNamericas provides a breakdown of the main segments and players.

MOBILE TELEPHONY

With 29.3mn accesses, 5G represented 11.3% of Brazil’s mobile market at the end of the first half. 

Overall, the country registered 260mn mobile accesses in June, flat compared with May and up 3.4% year-on-year.

4G accounted for 73.6% of the total base, with 2G and 3G down to 7.8% and 7.3%, respectively.

Vivo led with a 38.8% market share, coming close to the threshold of 101mn clients, followed by Claro (34%), TIM (23.8%), Algar (1.6%) and Datora (1%).

All three Brazil-based players saw growth during the month, with the biggest increase in absolute figures coming from Vivo.

Specifically regarding 5G, Vivo ended June with a 37.7% market share, while Claro reported 36.5%. In May, Claro had 37.2% and Vivo 37.1%.

FIXED BROADBAND

According to figures companies reported to regulator Anatel, 49.4mn fixed broadband contracts were active, but the figure may be higher, since many companies are yet to report their base figures.

The current figure, however, represents an increase of 2.3mn accesses in one year. Compared with the previous month, the fixed broadband base declined by some 300,000 accesses.

Fiber optics accounts for around 75.3% of the total, followed by coaxial cable with 17.5%. The rest is split between radio (3.8%), metal cable (2.5%) and satellite (1%).

Satellite connections in particular grew by nearly 113,000 accesses over the 12-month period, a considerable number for the segment and largely driven by the arrival of Starlink.

Starlink had 44.7% of the satellite broadband market at end-June, followed by Hughes (37%), Viasat (5.4%), Telebras (4.2%) and Claro (4%).

The satellite company added 82,000 contracts during the month, the third fastest rate of additions considering all segments, behind only the growth of Vivo and Claro.

Vivo continues to lead the fiber market, with a 17.6% share, followed by Oi (11.7%), EB Fibra (4.2%), Claro (4.2%), Brisanet (3.6%), Vero (3.6%), Desktop (2.9%), Algar (2.2%), Unifique (2%), TIM (2%), Brasil TecPar (1.7%) and Alares (1.7%).

Small ISPs and other providers without a nationwide footprint had a combined 42.6% share of the fiber broadband market and 37.6% of the total fixed broadband market.

Brisanet, Desktop and Unifique reported the highest numbers for new accesses among the ISPs, whereas IoT and M2M provider Kore saw 77,000 additions in the month.

Considering all means of access and technologies, Claro led the fixed broadband market with a 20.5% share, Vivo had 14.2% and Oi 9.5%.

FIXED TELEPHONY AND PAY-TV

Some 23.8mn fixed telephony subscribers were registered in June, down from 24.3mn in May. The customer base includes concession-holders and companies providing the service under the authorization model.

Considering both authorized players and concessionaires, Claro had 30% of all accesses in service, followed by Oi (25.9%), Vivo (25.3%), Algar Telecom (4.2%) and TIM (2.8%).

Pay-TV subscriptions also continue to fall, ending June with 10.5mn from 10.7mn in the previous month. The base does not include streaming services, which have been growing consistently in the country.

Satellite technology accounted for 52% of all pay-TV accesses, followed by coaxial cable (36%) and fiber (11.9%).

Market leader Claro had a 48.3% share of the pay-TV market, followed by Sky with 28.9%, Oi 10.7%, Vivo 7.8% and others with 4.3%.