Assessment of one year of 3G (WCDMA/HSDPA) in Brazil
Telemig Celular (Vivo) and Claro were the first operators to have WCDMA/HSDPA nets in commercial operation in Brazil. Vivo had already a 3G EVDO net in operation since 2004.
Telemig and Claro's nets started to operate in November/07 in the frequency of 850 MHz. The other operators started their operations in 2008, after the licitation of frequencies in 1.9/1.2 GHz.
In this period of about one year the 3G (WCDMA/HSDPA) were expanded and are already available for more than 64 million people, 34% of the Brazilian population.
Claro is the leader in this implementation, operating in most cities.
| Operators | Total of Cities | Coverage (population in millions) | Coverage (% of the population in Brazil) |
| Claro | 144 |
68,9 |
37.4 |
| Vivo | 46 |
40 |
21.6 |
| Tim | 23 |
36 |
19.5 |
| BrT Móvel | 10 |
9,4 |
5.1 |
| Oi | 7 |
18 |
9.6 |
| CTBC | 3 |
1,2 | 0.6 |
In Jul/08, Anatel started to publish the number of 3G cellulars in Brazil.
In Sept/09, 1% of the Brazilian cellulars in service were already WCDMA/HSDPA. The number of Vivo's EVDO cellulars is falling while the WCDMA/HSDPA is in expansion.
The rise in the base of 3G cellulars in Brazil will depend on the availability of devices and modems for affordable prices. In Sept/08 were homologated by Anatel 35 WCDMA/HSDPA cell phone models.
In Oct/08, unlocked or pre pay cell phones could be purchased for R$ 700.00. The modem for broadband access costed less than R$ 200.00, since linked to monthly package of data usage.
iPhone's arrival in Brazil by the end of September might have contributed for the net adds of 472 thousands WCDMA/HSDPA cellulars in Sept/08, what in the month, represented 20% of the net adds.
Teleco estimates that Brazil will close 2008 counting about 4.5 million 3G (WCDMA/HSDPA) cellulars, what represent 3% of the total of cellulars in the country.
The penetration of 3G in the cellulars base depends on the country. It started to grow faster by the beginning of HSDPA commercial nets in 2006.
In Europe the average is about 20% for the 27 countries of the European Union. In Italy and Portugal this entrance was bigger.
The following figure presents the WCDMA/HSPDA evolution in Portugal.
The conversion of the cellulars base for 3G technology is, however, only the first step. As it's shown in Portugal's example, the percentage of 3G cellulars that access data service is reduced (20-30%).
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