Brazil ISPs demand greater govt attention

Although small, regional Brazilian internet service providers (ISPs) continue to spearhead the expansion of fixed broadband in the country. But serving municipalities which big players have no interest in, small ISPs claim to suffer from bottlenecks holding back their expansion.

ISPs struggle, for example, with high prices power companies charge for using their utility poles to pass cables, as well as with limited access to financing, including credit to fund the acquisition of fiber and other broadband equipment.

“ISPs urgently need a guarantee fund to support their operations and to grow. This demand is not new, but it is urgent. We're the second [broadband] player, imagine if we had more attention to that,” André Rodrigues, chairman of ISP association Abrint, told BNamericas.

The infrastructure guarantee fund for facilitated credit was cleared by the economic authorities, but is still pending a decree to be signed by President Jair Bolsonaro.

ISPs are also working with regulator Anatel to include in the future 5G tender not only national lots but also smaller lots of spectrum, to be potentially acquired by ISPs.

They also expect President Bolsonaro to veto several articles of the new telecom framework that has been approved in the senate, which they believe will affect their competitiveness.

NUMBERS 

Brazil ended August with 32.5mn fixed broadband contracts, following the net addition of 1.71mn new clients since August 2018.

This growth is being driven mostly by the ISPs, which expanded by 32.3% in the period and which combined represent 28.3% of the market, or nearly 9.19mn households. They are the second broadband force in the country.

Individually, the market is led by Claro, with 9.54mn clients, followed by Vivo and Oi, both of which have been losing clients.

According to Anatel, accesses via fiber optics are now over 25% of all broadband connections.