Painel Telebrasil, Rankings, Huawei, 5G, Oi and other highlights
Eduardo Tude
Painel Telebrasil
- Painel Telebrasil, held last week in Brasília, became a mature event with high level panels and theme sessions. It counted with more than 1 thousand attendants that discassed themes like 5G, AI, IoT, Smart Cities and the future of pay TV;
- Propposals were gathered in one single document and presented the opening session with the presence of authorities, among them was Julio Semeghini, executive secretary of MCTIC, Leonardo Euler de Morais, Anatel's president, and Davi Alcolumbre, president of the Brazilian Senate, who assured that the Law Project 79 will be voted until July.
Rankings: Internet Fiendly Cities and Smart Cities Services
- São José dos Campos was first in the Internet Friendly Cities Ranking 2019. Porto Alegre was the best capital and the city that conquered more positions. São Paulo and Belo Horizonte continue among the last 10 positions;
- Uberlândia was first in the Smart Cities Services ranking, which evaluate the existence and use of 26 services by the 100 major Brazilian cities.
5G
Anatel approved the allocation of the 2.3 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequency bands for the mobile service and the president of Anatel advanced details of the 5G auction announcement that might be placed shortly for public consultation. The following frequency bands will go through auction:
- 2.3 GHz: 90 MHz (10 MHz will be dedicated to private limited service);
- 3.5 GHz: 300 MHz, being three blocks of 80 MHz and one of 60 MHz;
- 26 GHz: eight blocks os 400 MHz;
- 700 MHz: 10 MHz.
TIM is doing a 5G trial in Florianópolis, in partnership with the CERTI Foundation and Huawei. It intends to also make trials with Nokia and Ericsson in Campina Grande and Santa Rita do Sapucaí.
Huawei
- The United States delayed for 90 days the restrictions imposed on Huawei that led companies such as Google and Qualcomm to suspend access by Huawei and its customers to software and components of these companies;
- If they persist, these constraints will shake a global ecosystem with global production chains and internationally adopted standards, leading to fragmentation and consequent cost increases, including for consumers;
- A country can not have the power to block a company's commercial action for geopolitical interests and based on unproven allegations.
Oi
- Oi sold its stake (40%) in the operator Cabo Verde Telecom for US$ 26.3 million (R$ 106.9 million), thus ending the disputes with the Cape Verdean government;
- The judge responsible for Oi's judicial reorganization process blocked the increase in the remuneration of the company's board members, approved by the shareholders;
- Oi's ON shares increased by 6.4% in the week and the PN by 10.9%.
Other highlights
- Vivo remained the largest telecom group in the country, with 31.8% of the total net revenue of the sector, followed by Claro (25.9%), Oi (14.7%) and TIM (12.1%);
- The antitrust authority in El Salvador did not approve the sale of Telefonica's operation to América Móvil in that country, claiming that it had not received the necessary documentation.
Coming Weeks
Painel Telebrasil, Mobile Telephony in April, 1Q19 Results: Oi, Algar and Telebrás and more
Eduardo Tude
Painel Telebrasil
- Painel Telebrasil will take place in May 21-23. I'll announce the results of the Ranking of Internet-friendly Cities and the Ranking of Smart Cities Services.
Mobile Telephony in April
- TIM led mobile growth in April with net additions of 124 thousand cell phones, followed by Vivo (+58 thousand). The transfer of 434 thousand M2M terminals from Porto Seguro to TIM contrinuted to this result. Without these terminals, the TIM (-309 thousand) would have lost more mobile accesses than Claro (- 7 thousand) and Oi (- 76 thousand);
- Claro led postpaid growth without M2M (+193 thousand) in the month, followed by Oi (+150 thousand) and Vivo (+59 thousand). TIM had net negative additions (-158 thousand);
- Oi had the largest prepaid losses in the month (294 thousand), followed by TIM (-234 thousand), Claro (-210 thousand) and Vivo (-104 thousand);
- 4G technology continued to grow in April (+ 1.9 million), while 3G (-1.9 million) and 2G (-544,000) continued to shrink.
Oi
In the comparison of 1Q19 with 1Q18, Oi Brasil's total net revenue registered negative growth (-9.6%), as follows:
- -11.7% in residential service;
- -3.1% in personal mobile service;
- -8.3% in business/corporative service;
- -27.6% in other services.
Routine EBITDA margin reached 24.4% and net profit hit R$ 766 million. Net debt of R$ 10.1 billion and investment of R$ 1.7 billion in the quarter;
Oi has plans to sell assets, generating up to R$ 7 billion and reshape the company's business model;
Oi's ON stocks had loss of 20.5% in the week and PN of 15.0%.
1Q19 Result: Algar
- In the comparison between 1Q19 and 1Q18, Algar Telecom's gross revenues grew 1.4%, with 6.0% in B2B and -6.4% in B2C. B2B already accounts for 59% of revenue;
- Grupo Algar's EBITDA margin was 30.1% and net income reached R$ 47 million;
1Q19 Results: Telebrás
- Telebrás' revenue in 1Q19 (R$ 56.8 million) was 34% bigger than in 1Q18. Loss, however, increased 86.5% reaching R$ -117 million in the quarter.
Other Highlights
- Telefonica has requested that Anatel recognizes that the fixed telephony concession is unsustainable. If Anatel don't find alternatives to the current model, this would be the first step towards a possible return of the concession before the deadline;
- Anatel prepared a booklet with questions and answers about the Law Project 79/2016, denying the myths created during the debate on the law;
- The Finance and Taxation Committee of the Chamber of Deputies approved in Law Project 7656/17, by Vitor Lippi, which eliminates the collection of Fistel for IoT (M2M). The matter will be analyzed by the Commission on Constitution and Justice to be referred to the Senate;
- The United States increased its campaign against Huawei by adding it to a list of companies barred from buying components of US companies and moving to block the use of its equipment in the country. Unfortunate attitude.
- Atitude lamentável.
Coming weeks
- Painel Telebrasil, May 21-23.
1Q19 Results: Vivo, TIM, Nextel, fixed telephony and others
Eduardo Tude
1Q19 Results: Vivo
In the comparison of 1Q19 with 1Q18, Vivo's total net revenue grew by 1.7%, as follows:
- + 4.7% in mobile, with 1.6% in services and 55.1% in handsets. Data and digital services revenue increased by 8.0% and already accounts for 82.4% of revenues from mobile services;
- -3.2% in fixed, 12.6% in residential fixed Broadband, 4.8% in corporate data and 4.8% in IT. Pay TV revenue remained stable and voice revenues dropped 18.4%;
Net profit, considering the new accounting standard (IFR 16), reached R$ 1,387 million.
Telefonica Brasil announced that it has signed a contract with a company controlled by Asterion Industrial Partners for the sale of its data centers in Tamboré (in Santana do Parnaíba, state of São Paulo) and Curitiba (state of Paraná).
1Q19 Results: TIM
- In the comparison of 1Q19 with 1Q18, TIM's total net revenue grew by 1.7%, 1.2% in mobile and 11.6% in fixed. Mobile accounts for 95% of TIM's net revenue;
- Mobile services revenue increased by 0.4% and handsets by 24.6%. Mobile data and digital services revenue grew by 8.2% and account for 70% of mobile services revenue;
- Net profit considering the new accounting standard (IFR 16) reached R$ 152 million;
- TIM completed the activation of VoLTE in all cities of the state of São Paulo. In April, the company had completed activation in all cities in Rio de Janeiro.
Results 1Q19: Nextel Brasil
Revenue registered by Nextel Brasil in 1Q19 (R$ 553 million) was 5.7% smaller than in 1Q18.
1Q19 Results: World
Comparing 1Q19 with 1Q18 , net revenue increased:
- +1.3% at LG;
- -1.7% at Telefônica (+3.8% organic);
- -2.2% at British Telecom;
- -3.8% at Deutsche Telekom;
- -5.8% at France Telecom;
- -6.2% at NTTDocomo;
- -11.6% at Samsung.
Fixed Telephony in 1Q9
- 905 thousand fixed telephones were disconnected in 1Q19, 386 thousand of them by Oi, 346 thousand by Vivo and 270 thousand by Claro. Other operators had gain of 99 thousand fixed telephones.
Oi
- Oi's ON stocks presented losses of 12.5% in the week and PN of 8.1%;
Industry
- The industrial production of the electronics sector showed a decrease of 7.3% in the first three months of the year, in relation to the same period of 2018. This is what the figures released by IBGE added by Abinee show;
- Brazil has concluded negotiations with the European Union (EU) and Japan setting a deadline until June to eliminate banned subsidies of Basic Productive Processes in the IT Law that require local content. The government has opened two public consultations about Basic Productive Processes to make these adjustments. The term to adjust other incentives, such as the average reduction of 80% of Industrialized Products Tax given by the Information Technology Law, is until December 31, 2019.
Other highlights
- 7% of Brazilians who access the Internet and have smartphones declare that they have already rented a shared bike via the app. Search Panorama Mobile Time / Opinion Box;
- Hughes and Yahsat have announced the creation of a joint venture to provide Ka broadband services through satellite in Brazil. Together, both companies will have 65 Gbps Ka-band capacity to serve the Brazilian market;
- The Internet Management Committee, Anatel's Users Committee and Gired (Group of Implementation of the Process of Redistribution and Digitization of TV Channels) are not included in the list of 55 colleges that were extinguished by Decree 9.784, published on May 7th by President Jair Bolsonaro;
- EllaLink, a submarine cable between Brazil and Europe, announced that Alcatel Redes Submarinas finalized the Study over Cable Route and mobilized the ship to start the survey to launch the cable.
Coming weeks
- Oi's 1Q19 Results (May/15);
- Teleco's Workshop - 2019's Trends in Rio de Janeiro (May/15);
- http://consult.teleco.com.br/default.asp#workshop
- Painel Telebrasil, May 21-23, where I'll announce the results of the Ranking of Internet-friendly Cities and the Ranking of Smart Cities Services.
Smartphones, Claro in 1Q19, fixed broadband in Mar/19 and more
Eduardo Tude
Smartphones in the world (1Q19)
- Samsung maintained the leadership in worldwide cell phone sales in 1Q19 (71.9 million handsets), although there was an 8.1% drop compared to 1Q18 sales;
- Huawei ranked second with sales of 59.1 million units in 1Q19, up 50.3% over 1Q18. The Brazilian market is part of Huawei's strategy to maintain this growth. On May 17th the company starts sell in the country two premium models: The P30 Pro and the P30 Lite;
- Apple was in the third place with 52.2 million, 36.4% less than in 1Q18. iPhone's sales revenue fell 17.3% in this comparison, but was partly offset by a 20.2% increase in revenue from other services of the company. The 5.1% decline in total company revenue was seen as a good result by the market and Apple's shares were up after the results were released.
Claro and America Móvil
- In the comparison of 1Q19 with 1Q18, Claro's total net revenue grew by 1.3%, + 7.6% in the mobile segment and -2.0% in the fixed segment;
- America Movil adopted in 1Q19 a new form of leasing accounting (IFR16) that increased Claro Brasil's EBITDA margin to 37.0% in the quarter. The 1Q18 was also revised to 32.1%;
- América Móvil's global revenues in 1Q19 decreased 3.1% when compared with 1Q18 (Mexican Pesos).
Fixed broadband in Mar/19
- Claro (+42 thousand accesses) and Competitive Operators (+28 thousand) showed positive growth in March, while Vivo (-25 thousand) and Oi (-23 thousand) registered losses. The net additions of the Competitive companies (small companies in Anatel's definition) would be higher (+218 thousand accesses) if all providers that reported accesses in 4Q18 also had reported in March/19;
- The growth in the month occurred in fiber (+160 thousand) and cable (+48 thousand) accesses. The losses occurred in the xDSL (-115 thousand) and the radio spread spectrum (-111 thousand).
Oi
- Funds managed by York own 11.14% of total of Oi's outstanding shares. No other fund individually holds 5% or more of Oi shares;
- Oi's ON shares appreciated by 5.4% in the week and the NP of 3.6%.
Other highlights
- South Korea reached the mark of 260 thousand 5G subscribers, weeks after the carriers launched the service commercially;
- Google's revenue (Alphabet) grew 16.7% in 1Q19 compared with 1Q18.
Coming weeks
- TIM's 1Q19 results (May/7th), Vivo (May/9th) and Oi (May/15th);
- Workshop Teleco 2019 Trens in Rio de Janeiro (May/15th);
- http://consult.teleco.com.br/default.asp#workshop
- Painel Telebrasil, May 21-23, where I'll announce the results of the Ranking of Internet-friendly Cities and the Ranking of Smart Cities Services.
Eduardo Tude
President and partner at Teleco (consultancy company), works since 2002 as analyst of Telecom market, coordinating consulting projects, publishing weekly articles, preparing sector reports and presenting workshops.
Telecom Engineer (IME 1978) and MSc. in Telecom Engineering (INPE 81), Tude is member in the Mobile World Congress’s judging commission for the Global Mobile Awards, in Barcelona, and was also a visiting specialist professor at Unicamp.
Tude had many positions in the management of Telecommunication companies in areas like Mobile Systems (Ericsson), Optical Networks (Pegasus Telecom) and Satellites (INPE).
