Oi and Tim lead cell phone growth in the first 4 months of the year
The first four months of 2008 are showing a very different competitive scenario presented in 2007, when Claro and Tim had net adds much higher than other operators.
Oi and Tim led the growth of cell phones from Jan-Apr/08 with net adds of 1.8 million cell phones, but are being followed by Claro and Vivo with 1.4 million cell phones.
Note: Vivo includes Telemig and Oi the Amazônia Celular.
Tim led growth in Jan/08 and Oi in February and March.
The dispute in Apr/08 showed balance between the 4 major operators, with Oi having lost leadership because of the performance of Amazonia Celular which lost 47 thousand customers in the month.
Note: Vivo includes Telemig and Oi the Amazônia Celular.
In this scenario, deserves a special mention the performance of Oi, after all it is present in 16 brazilian states while Tim attend all the 27 units of the federation.
An analysis of the operators growth considering the areas of Cellular Mobile Service (SMC) which was divided, Brazil helps to better understand the performance of these operators.
Operators Net Adds (Jan-Apr/08)
| Areas of SMC | Vivo | Tim | Claro | Oi | BrT | |
| 1/2 | SP |
208 |
571 |
585 |
- |
- |
| 10 | Northeast | - |
138 |
122 |
706 |
- |
| 3 | RJ/ES | 243 |
101 |
120 |
302 |
- |
| 4 | MG | 138 |
108 |
139 |
348 |
- |
| 7 | Middle West | 146 |
152 |
132 |
- |
226 |
| 5 | PR/SC | 105 |
257 |
134 |
- |
116 |
| 9 | BA/SE | 194 |
103 |
90 |
339 |
- |
| 6 | RGS | 108 |
60 |
60 |
- |
72 |
| 8 | North | 253 |
268 |
- |
156 |
- |
| Brazil | 1,394 | 1,758 | 1,382 | 1,793 | 414 | |
*Vivo includes Telemig and Oi the Amazônia Celular.
Oi got 39.4% of its net adds in the area 10 (Northeast) where is the market leader with 41.1% of market share. It was with 73% of net additions in this area (Jan-Apr/08), and on the DDD 81 (Recife) and DDD 85 (Fortaleza) Oi got 93% and 100% of net adds in Apr/08.
In São Paulo, Tim and Vivo had more than double of the net adds of the market leader, Vivo (Jan-Apr/08). From 4 areas where is the market leader, Vivo only led net adds in the first 4 months of the year in Rio Grande do Sul
Tim led net adds in Parana and Santa Catarina where is the market leader with 46.1% of market share and in the North, where it was leader until Oi acquired Amazonia Celular.
Cellular Operators Market Share (Apr/08)
| Areas of SMC | Vivo | Tim | Claro | Oi | BrT | |
| 1/2 | SP |
40.3% | 25.9% | 33.6% | - | - |
| 10 | Northeast | - | 31.7% | 27.2% | 41.1% | - |
| 3 | RJ/ES | 39.5% | 15.5% | 25.2% | 19.7% | - |
| 4 | MG | 28.5% | 28.6% | 12.5% | 28.2% | - |
| 7 | Middle West | 35.4% | 14.4% | 31.2% | - | 18.8% |
| 5 | PR/SC | 25.2% | 46.1% | 17.3% | - | 10.8% |
| 9 | BA/SE | 27.4% | 21.8% | 23.0% | 27.8% | - |
| 6 | RGS | 42.8% | 15.8% | 31.2% | - | 10.2% |
| 8 | North | 31.0% | 34.0% | - | 35.0% | - |
| Brazil | 30.4% | 25.9% | 24.8% | 15.0% | 3.7% | |
The areas 1/2 (São Paulo) and 10 (Northeast) are the areas with more cell phones in Brasil and had the biggest net adds (Jan-Apr/08), although the percentage increases have not been the greatest. These are the areas most populous and, interestingly, are the only two areas that still have only 3 operators, which should be corrected soon with the entry of Vivo in the Northeast and Oi in Sao Paulo.
Cellular per SMC area
| Areas of SMC | Cellulars (milliona) |
Dens. Apr. | Additions Jan-apr |
Growth Year | |
| 1/2 | SP |
30,660 |
72.85 | 1,362 | 4.6% |
| 10 | Northeast | 17,047 |
56.73 | 967 | 6.0% |
| 3 | RJ/ES | 15,654 |
80.60 | 766 | 5.1% |
| 4 | MG | 14,153 |
71.17 | 758 | 5.7% |
| 7 | Middle West | 13,427 |
77.25 | 658 | 5.2% |
| 5 | PR/SC | 11,624 |
69.55 | 609 | 5.5% |
| 9 | BA/SE | 8,795 |
54.18 | 726 | 9.0% |
| 6 | RGS | 8,771 |
78.58 | 299 | 3.5% |
| 8 | North | 7,611 |
41.83 | 619 | 8.8% |
| Brazil | 127,743 | 66.84 | 6,763 | 5.6% | |
With this scenario of competition, the growth in 2008 was significant in most of the country.
The North and BA/SE, areas which have lower densities, grew 9% in the first 4 months of the year.
Even RJ/ES, area with the highest density (80.60 cell/100 inhab.) grew 5.1%, more than Sao Paulo and Rio Grande do Sul.
Brazil ended April 2008 with 127.7 million cell phones and density of 66.84 cell/100 inhab. Net adds of 1.9 million cell phones of the month representing more than doubled from April 2007.
The accumulated net adds in the last 12 months reached 24.9 million cell phones. May, the first month to present a significant growth in 2007 will be a good thermometer to assess what will happen with cell phone in Brazil in 2008.
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