Why brazilians don't speak a lot on cell phones?
Brazil is the 6th country of the world in number of cellulars (more details), but brazilians don't speak a lot in the cellular when compared with other countries of the world.
MOU ( Minutes of Use) monthly amount of minutes used by a cellular user in Brazil is lesser than other Latin America countries, as an example the América Móvil operators below ( Claro in Brazil)
The average MOU of cellular in Brazil is 70 minutes. Tim, with 81 minutes has the biggest MOU of Brazil. This value is less to the one gotten by América Móvil Operators in Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Central America. America Móvil is the biggest cellular operator of Latin America with 39% of market share.
| 2Q06 | Cellulars (Thousands) |
Pre-paid (%) |
ARPU (R$) |
MOU (Minutes) |
| TIM | 22,338 |
79.4% |
30.2 |
81.0 |
| Amaz Cel | 1,251 |
80.1% |
21.9 |
67.3 |
| Vivo | 28,525 |
81.5% |
24.1 |
66.0 |
| Claro | 20,949 |
83.4% |
24.0 |
66.0 |
| Telemig | 3,404 |
76.0% |
22.5 |
63.4 |
| Oi | 12,034 |
80.0% |
17.8 |
ND |
| BrT | 2,772 |
67.5% |
26.0 |
ND |
| Brazil | 91,760* |
80.54% |
24.7 |
70.2 |
*Includes CTBC and Sercomtel
Why Brazilians speak little in the cellular?
A first hypothesis would be to point the percentage of pre-paid as the cause, after all the MOU of a regular ( after-paid) user is bigger than the pre-paid. Vivo, for example, the MOU of regulars ( after-paid) is 200 minutes and pre-paid 34 minutes (2Q06). However, the percentage of pre-paid of Claro in Brazil is the minor between the operators of America Móvil.
| América Móvil | Cellulars (thousands) |
% Pre-paid |
MOU (minutes) |
ARPU (US$) |
| Central America* | 4,822 |
93.3% |
160 |
11.0 |
| Arg/Parag/Urug | 8,618 |
89.8% |
135 |
11.1 |
| Chile | 2,001 |
85.6% |
126 |
12.5 |
| Mexico | 39,150 |
93.2% |
111 |
16.7 |
| Colombia | 17,970 |
86.1% |
107 |
7.6 |
| Peru | 2,483 |
89.6% |
68 |
11.2 |
| Brazil (Claro) | 20,949 |
83.4% |
66 |
11.0 |
| Ecuador | 4,819 |
89.1% |
41 |
10.0 |
*El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicarágua
The other hypothesis would be related to the value of the ARPU (monthly Revenue average per user). United States and Europe have values of ARPU and MOU bigger than the ones gotten in Brazil. The ARPU of Telefonica in Spain, for example, is US$ 40.6 and MOU: 156 minutes. However, the ARPU of Claro in Brazil (US$ 11.0) is next to the ones gotten by the other operators of America Móvil.
It can be concluded that the utilization is low because the service is more expensive than in the other countries.
Note: ARPM (Average Revenue Per Minute) or Net Revenue per minute was estimated by Teleco. Excluded the revenues of other services, not voice.
The countries with minor MOU (Peru, Brazil and Ecuador) are those where the ARPM (Average Revenue Per Minute or Net Revenue per minute) of the América Móvil operators is bigger. Brazil and Ecuador in particular are the countries where the tributes on Net Revenue of services are bigger, what it still becomes bigger the cost of the service to the user.
| Country | Tributes on the service | América Móvil |
||
Vat * |
Outras taxas |
MOU |
ARPM (US$)/minute |
|
| Guatemala | 12.0% |
- |
160 |
0.06 |
| Argentina | 21.0% |
4.0% |
135 |
0.08 |
| Chile | 19.0% |
- |
126 |
0.09 |
| Mexico | 15.0% |
- |
111 |
0.14 |
| Colombia | 20.0% |
- |
107 |
0.07 |
| Peru | 19.0% |
- |
68 |
0.16 |
| Brazil | 25.0%* |
3.7% |
66 |
0.16 |
| Ecuador | 12.0% |
15.0% |
41 |
0.23 |
Souce Tributes: GSM Association and Deloitte
* VAT: Adding Value. In Brazil ICMS, in some States reachs 35%.
The high cost of the service to the user is also one of the causes that makes Brazil occupy 6th position in cellular density, when compared with others Latin America countries (more details).
This situation of low use also repeats in other services that not voice. The utilization tax of SMS in Brazil is also inferior to the found in other countries of Latin America.
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