Mobile telephony had little growth in 2014, but presents transformation in its base
Brazil ended 2014 counting 280.7 million mobile accesses and density of 138 cell./100 inhab.
Mobile telephony registered growth of 3.6% in 2014, in the same level of 2013. Net adds of 9.6 million in 2014 against 9.3 million in 2013.
 |
This result indicates that we can't expect growth in 2015 to be very different from what was registered in the last two years.
We shouldn't, however, interpret this small growth as a sign of market stagnation in Brazil. The base of 281 million mobile accesses goes through deep transformations. The main transformations are:
Migration from prepaid to postpaid
Prepaid is losing participation inside mobile accesses base due to the migration to controlled plans.
 |
The bigger use of message services (WhatsApp) also reduces the use of voice and the necessity of having more than 1 chip.
Prepaid increased less than 1% in the last two years, while postpaid kept two-digit growth (14% in 2014). Postpaid answered for 86% of the mobile net additions in 2014.
 |
Vivo is the operator that gets more benefits by this migration. The company led mobile growth in 2014, having net adds of 2.7 million mobile accesses and ended the year holding market share of 41.8% in postpaid.
 |
The participation of prepaid inside Vivo's base dropped to 64.5%, while at TIM it reached 83.5%, at Oi it hit 82.0% and at Claro 78.0%.
Migration to 3G smartphones
The bigger use of data services to access internet, social networks and WhatsApp is leading to the exchange of GSM conventional cell phones, used mainly to voice services, for 3G smartphones.
In 2014, 3G technology became the main mobile technology in Brazil and it’s likely to consolidate this leadership in 2015.
 |
Brazil ended 2014 counting 145 million 3G mobile accesses against 133 million 2G (GSM) accesses.
Claro is in the most advanced operator in this transition. More than 74% of Claro's base is composed of 3G. At TIM and Vivo this participation reaches about 50%.
4G technology is in its initial curve of adoption and may end 2015 counting more than 15 million smartphones. The board below compares the evolution of 3G terminals in its early years with 4G.
 |
You could ask:
