27
6/2021

Broadband, MWC 2021, 5G and more

Eduardo Tude

  • The share of accesses with speeds greater than 34 Mbps in the total fixed broadband accesses in Brazil grew in 3 years from 15% to 70% in April 2021.
  • It was 82% at Claro and 72% among competitive providers in Apr/21 due to the advance of fiber and cable networks. Between Vivo and Oi, which still have a lot of copper accesses (xDSL), this share was 64% and 51% respectively.

 

MWC 2021

  • This week I will remotely follow the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Among the highlights there will be the revelation of the winners of the Global Mobile Awards (GloMo) of which I am a member of the jury.
  • A Brazilian delegation led by the Minister of Communications will participate of the event.

 

5G

  • Anatel and MCom sent the answers to the questions to Union Court Accounts and the Court's technical team will now complete the report to be sent to the reporting minister. The deadline for finalizing the analysis by TCU remains, however, undefined.
  • At best, the Court would conclude its analysis in July, the notice would be published in early September and the auction would take place in November.
  • Highline confirmed that it is analyzing the possibility of participating in the 5G tender, acquiring spectrum and deploying its own network to operate in wholesale, serving competitive fixed broadband providers and MVNOs. This can be a good alternative for providers, but its feasibility depends on your commitment to this alternative.
  • Otherwise, Highline would continue to act as an infrastructure provider for mobile operators.

 

 Oi

  • Oi announced the signing of the indenture of debentures in the total amount of R$ 2 billion by Oi Móvel. The bonds will be subscribed and paid in by an investment fund of BTG Pactual.
  • Oi's ON shares had losses of 1.3% during the week and PN shares of 1.8%.

 

More highlights

  • Mobile banking has become the main financial transaction channel in Brazil with 51% of transactions. Digital channels (Mobile and Internet banking) account for 67%. (Febraban Survey 2021)
  • Magazine Luiza will be Claro's new accredited MVNO. The request for approval of the contract was registered with Anatel.
  • Eletronet is now present in four more new traffic exchange points (PTTs): Teresina, Maceió, Goiânia and Florianópolis. It is present in 14 PTTs in Brazil, 5 in the US and 4 in Europe.
  • 130 km of cables were stolen in the city of São Paulo during the first five months of 2021, 20% more than in the same period of 2020.
  • Microsoft said the new version of its Windows 11 operating system will include access to Android services.

 

Coming Weeks

  • June 28th to July 1st: Mobile World Congress 2021
  • June 29th to 30th: Fiber Connect Latam
  • June 30th: Open RAN 2021 LATAM Web Series

 

 

 

20
6/2021

Mobile Telephony, Oi, 5G, Anatel and more

Eduardo Tude

In ten years, cell phone has become the most essential device for 57% of the readers that answered to Teleco's survey, surpassing the automobile and PC/notebook. In a world of many screens, Television is also losing its essentiality.

 

Oi

  • Oi ended the month of April with R$ 2.0 billion in cash, R$ 554 million less than in the previous month.
  • Investments in the month of R$ 144 million were the lowest in the last 12 months.
  • Oi's ON shares had losses of 2.5% and PN shares fell 1.8% during the week

 

5G

  • 162 operators in 68 countries had launched 5G services in May, with 28 operators in 16 countries using millimeter waves. (GSA)
  • 624 million 5G smartphones are expected to be sold worldwide in 2021, more than double that in 2020 (269 million). (Strategy Analytics)

 

Anatel

  • Anatel granted prior consent for Claro to merge its towers into a new company.
  • Anatel moves towards more responsive regulation. The Board approved the proposal to reassess the regulation on regulatory oversight, adopting a model of warnings, before the opening of Procedures for Investigation of Non-Compliance with Obligations (Pado).
  • Anatel's technical area is also proposing a change in quality regulation that would be geared towards informing the consumer, with less punishment for providers. Among the initiatives is the creation of an Anatel quality seal, which would takes into account, among other items, broadband speed measured by crowdsourcing.
  • Anatel's board approved the new Spectrum Usage Plan defining actions for the period 2021 to 2028. Among them is the definition of TV generator and relay channels in 1,638 municipalities where analogue TV has not yet been switched off.

 

More Highlights

  • The law based on Provisional Measure 1.018/2020 was enacted, which reduces the value of Fistel for satellite internet earth stations (Vsat), changes the application of Fust resources, with the possibility of reimbursement of funds invested in public schools, and the levy of taxes on streaming platforms (Condecine).
  • One of the articles that has caused controversy is the one that now classifies TV relays, and not just generators, among broadcasters that may require the charging of their signals by the operators of the Conditional Access Service (pay TV).
  • MVNO Fluke has just completed a public offering via crowdfunding and raised R$ 5 million from 603 investors.
  • There were 3.2 billion attempted cyber attacks in Brazil in 1Q21 (Fortinet)
  • The São Paulo City Council approved in the 1st round the bill for a new law for the installation of antennas in the city. The former was deemed unconstitutional by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
  • Campos dos Goytacazes City Council approved a new law for the installation of antennas that includes positive silence for 30 consecutive days.
  • Cade and Anatel approved the sale agreement, by TIM, of 51% of its FiberCo to the IHS group.
  • The total spending of companies with IoT in the world grew 12.1% in 2020, reaching US$ 128.9 billion. IoT Analytics estimates that these spends are expected to grow 24% in 2021.
  • .
  • In 1Q21, 41% of US households contracted only broadband instead of a bundle with other services. They paid an average of US$ 64 by month for this broadband. (Parks)
  • Huawei maintained its leadership in the sale of telecom equipment in the world (excluding the US), with 36% of revenue. Nokia and Ericsson come next with 18% each.  (Dell’Oro)

 

Coming Weeks

 

 

6
6/2021

Competitives IPO and more

Eduardo Tude

Competiives IPO: Brisanet, Unifique and Desktop

In recent weeks, three SCM providers have registered requests for an Initial Public Offering of Shares (IPO) at CVM:

  • Brisanet is the largest of them with net revenue of R$ 472 million in 2020, 61% higher than in 2019. EBITDA margin reached 37.9% in 2020 and 675 thousand fixed broadband accesses in March 2021.
  • Unifique, the first to submit the order, with net revenue of R$ 286 million in 2020, 75% higher than in 2019. EBITDA margin hit 48.7% in 2020 and 318 thousand accesses Fixed broadband in March 2021.
  • Desktop Sigmanet with net revenue of R$167 million in 2020, 47% higher than in 2019. EBITDA margin of 41.4% in 2020 and 255 thousand fixed broadband accesses in March 2021.

This may be the path for other competitive companies to value their assets and obtain resources to continue growing.

 

Anatel

  • Anatel granted prior consent for the sale of Copel Telecomunicações to Bordeaux Participações, owned by businessman Nelson Tanure.
  • Anatel's Board of Directors approved the sale of control of Fibrasil by Telefônica Vivo to the Canadian fund Caisse de Dépot et Placement Du Québec (CDPQ), without restrictions.
  • In an effort to simplify the regulation, Anatel expects to reduce from 294 to 100 the number of resolutions in force at the Agency.
  • Anatel's inspection superintendence seized more than 1 million telecom products not approved by the Agency within 1 year until May. These include cell phones, Wi-Fi hotspots and boxes for illegal streaming.

 

Telefónica and Vivo

  • Vivo Fibra arrived in nine cities in São Paulo: Adamantina, Barra Bonita, Dracena, Itápolis, Guararapes and Espírito Santo do Pinhal. Three other cities began to be served through its Terra Fibra franchise: Franco da Rocha, Francisco Morato and Caieiras.
  • Telefónica Group, in an effort to reduce its indebtedness, announced that it has completed the sale of the Telxius tower segment in Europe to American Tower.
  • Telefónica would also have received a € 1.8 billion propposal from the Swedish fund EQT for the submarine cables unit that is part of Telxius. (El Confidencial).

 

Oi

  • Oi's ON shares appreciated by 7.9% during the week and PN shares increased by 1.6%.

 

More highlights

  • The GDP of communication and information services grew by 0.8% in the four quarters ending in March 2021, when compared to the four previous quarters. Brazilian GDP dropped by 3.8% in this comparison.
  • Congress overturned the presidential veto apart from bill 3,477/2020, which establishes the transfer to states, municipalities and the Federal District of R$ 3.5 billion from the FUST to be used in Internet services for students and teachers in the public network education.
  • 11.9 million cell phones were sold in Brazil (1Q21), of which 11.2 million smartphones and 706 thousand feature phones. (IDC)
  • Claro is the operator with the best mobile experience in Brazil. (Tutela)
  • The installation of the EllaLink submarine cable, which interconnects Brazil (Fortaleza) and Europe (Portugal), was completed and it should go into commercial operation in the coming weeks. The project started more than ten years ago by an initiative of the European Community, RNP and Latin American Academic networks. Teleco developed the initial business plan for the project.
  • Huawei has released version 2.0 of its smartphone operational system Harmony.
  • WhatsApp has given up limiting its functions to those who do not accept its new privacy policy. Those who do not accept will no longer be blocked, but will be constantly asked to accept the new terms.
  • 82% of US broadband households had at least one OTT video service subscription in 1Q21, up from 76% in 1Q20. (Parks Associates)

 

 

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).

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