Misconceptions of UIT's study about comparison of prices
UIT repeated, in the most recent study called "Measuring The Information Society", the misconceptions published in previous editions of the study in relation to the calculation of telecom service prices in Brazil.
The image below presents the Brazilian position in the ranking published by UIT in 2014 and the position with the corrections shown in this commentary. (The first position shows the smallest cost).
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Note: Ranking based on the service cost as percentage of the GDP per capita. The first position shows the smallest cost.
Mobile Telephony
UIT's study considers the maximum prices of operators' "Service Reference Plan", registered at Anatel but that aren't used by users in Brazil.
The image below shows the prices used by UIT and those prices really charged in Brazil, according to the study carried out by Teleco.
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Note: The study made by Teleco uses the same collection rules as UIT (prepais mobile accesses, main operator, ...). The prices in UIT's study are related to Sep/13's and Teleco's were collected between June and Sep/14.
So, It is not surprising that UIT's study concludes that the monthly spending of a prepaid user in Brazil, represented by UIT's services basket, is R$ 113.7. This value is about ten times bigger than the average prepaid phone bill in Brazil.
The average price by minute for cell phone would be R$ 1.26, according to UIT, while Anatel and Teleco estimate that this value reaches R$ 0.16 and R$ 0.14, respectively.
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Note: calcullated from operators' ARPU, MOU and data revenue.
Besides the values used by the study, the services basket also doesn't correspond to the profile of Brazilian mobile customers. Based on a basket defined by OCDE in 2009, it seeks to reflect a standard of the use of European users with low consumption.
The basket includes 51 minutes of calls, 53% on-net and 100 SMSs. In Brazil, about 90% of the traffic goes to on-net calls.
Mobile Broadband
In mobile broadband, UIT's study presents the following monthly values for the consumption of 500 MB in smartphone.
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Ou seja, um pacote de dados de 500 MB sairia três vezes mais caro no pós-pago do que no pré-pago.
A diferença de preço ocorre porque o pacote de dados considerado no pós-pago pela UIT inclui minutos de conversação.
Distorções como esta, que fazem com que o Brasil passe da posição 53 (BL móvel pré-paga) para a 102 (BL móvel pós-paga), inviabilizam a utilização dos rankings apresentados pela UIT para a análise comparativa de preços entre os países.
Telefonia Fixa
Na telefonia fixa, o estudo da UIT não considerou a franquia de 200 minutos incluída na assinatura no Brasil, apesar de sua metodologia estabelecer que, se o valor da assinatura inclui uma franquia de minutos, eles devem ser deduzidos do valor total da cesta.
As distorções apresentadas pelo estudo de preços da UIT para o Brasil podem ter ocorrido também em relação a outros países.
Para se ter uma comparação efetiva dos preços de serviços de telecom entre os vários países seria necessário realizar um estudo em outras bases, que procurasse captar os preços efetivamente praticados em outros países.
A Teleco realizou um estudo comparativo de preços do Brasil com outros 17 países, que pode ser consultado em preços países.
Diante deste quadro pergunta-se:
