Vivo and Claro lead Brazilian mobile broadband in 2013
Brazil ended 2013 counting 103.1 million mobile broadband accesses, being:
38.0% of the mobile accesses in the country are mobile broadband accesses.
In order to evaluate the broadband leaders in Brazil, Teleco selected the indicators below:
Image: Leaders in Mobile Broadband
| Indicator | Description | Leader |
| Total mobile broadband accesses | Mobile broadband market share | Claro |
| Accesses via 3G handsets | Participation of accesses via 3G handsets in the total of accesses via handsets (excluding data terminals) | Claro |
| Accesses via 4G handsets | Number of 4G handsets (excluding data terminals) | Vivo |
| Broadband Data Terminals | Market Share of broadband data terminals | Vivo |
| Data Revenue | Participation of data revenue in services revenue | Vivo |
| Coverage | Number of cities covered by 3G and 4G | Vivo |
The board showing the leaders in these indicators remained the same as Oct/13 when Teleco had published the last commentary about the topic (more details).
Total of Mobile Broadband Accesses: Claro Leads
Claro is market share leader in mobile broadband in Brazil. The carrier ended 2013 holding 38.5 million accesses, followed by Vivo (25.8 million), TIM (24.3 million) and Oi (12.2 million).
Image: Market Share of Mobile Broadband
According to Anatel's definition, the number of mobile broadband accesses is a result of the quantity of accesses via 3G/4G accesses plus broadband data terminals. M2M data terminals aren't included in this count.
The leadership in 3G handsets, which represent 91.9% of the mobile broadband accesses in Brazil, assured Claro this result.
Accesses via 3G Handsets: Claro has advantage in converting GSM into 3G
The process of converting GSM handsets into 3G, in Brazilian cellular base, is happening in a accelerated pace, but GSM devices still represent 58.9% of the total of mobile accesses in Brazil.
Image: Participation in the total of cellulars in Brazil
Among the main four mobile operators in Brazil, Claro is the one having the biggest advantage in this process. From the total of Claro's accesses via handsets (excluding data terminals) 58.0% are 3G.
Image: 3G participation in the total of mobile accesses
Claro leads in the total of 3G handsets counting 36.6 million in 2013, followed by TIM (23.6 million), Vivo (22.3 million) and Oi (11.5 million).
Even though it's not included in this evaluation, we must highlight that 71.2% of the accesses via handsets operated by CTBC are 3G.
Accesses via 4G Handsets: Vivo is the leader
Vivo is the leader in 4G mobile accesses, followed by TIM. Claro, which was first to launch 4G service in Brazil fell to the third position.
Image: 4G mobile accesses in Brazil (thousands)
Brazil ended 2013 counting 1.3 million 4G mobile accesses and, kept the current trends, the country is likely to end 2014 having about 5 million 4G accesses.
A more accelerated adoption of 4G technology depends on the offer of more affordable prices.
Market Share of Mobile Data Terminals: Vivo is the leader
Brazil ended 2013 counting 7.0 million broadband data terminals (modems) with net adds reaching 322 thousand terminals in the first ten months of the year.
Vivo is the market share leader in broadband data terminals (modems) holding 50.8% of the market share in 2013, followed by Claro (27.7%), TIM (9.4%) and Oi (9.0%).
Image: Mobile broadband terminals
Source: Anatel
Only Vivo, which ended 2013 operating 3.6 million broadband data terminals, and Nextel (218 thousand) presented growth in this segment in 2013.
Data Revenue: Vivo leads
Vivo is the leader in data net revenue reaching R$ 1.6 billion in 1Q13. Claro and Oi don't report this indicator.
| Data Net Revenue /VAS (R$ Million) |
2010 |
2012 |
2013 |
Annual Growth |
| Vivo | 1,318 |
1,351 |
1,414 |
21.8% |
| TIM | 676 |
693 |
758 |
20.1% |
| Oi Personal Mobil. | - |
208 |
216 |
54.6% |
In 2013, data revenue represented 31.7% of Vivo's service revenue against 22.3% registered by TIM.
Image: Data net revenue as % of services net revenue
3G Coverage: Vivo covers more cities than the other three operators altogether
Vivo is the leader in 3G coverage, reaching 3,134 cities (86.7% of the population) in 2013.
| Cities | 2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
| Vivo | 314 |
579 |
1,206 |
2,516 |
3,100 |
3,134 |
| Claro | 282 |
389 |
402 |
657 |
1,116 |
1,570 |
| Tim | 23 |
55 |
195 |
488 |
593 |
1,000 |
| Oi | 99 |
168 |
211 |
250 |
529 |
951 |
| Total | 448 |
711 |
1,287 |
2,702 |
3,293 |
3,554 |
Vivo is also the leader in number of cities covered with 4G in Oct/13.
| 4G Coverage | Covered Cities |
Population (%) |
| Vivo | 73 |
30.0% |
| Claro | 40 |
25.3% |
| Oi | 24 |
23.1% |
| TIM | 24 |
23.1% |
| Total | 81 |
31.9% |
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