Is WhatsApp making Brazilian people talk less on the cell phone?
In Brazil, people talked less on the phone in the first quarter of 2015 (1Q15). The average of 111 minutes used monthly by clients to talk on the cell phone in 1Q15 were 15.6% smaller than the 132 minutes registered in 4Q14.
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The drop on the use of voice through cell phone occurred in all the main operators, but it was bigger at Claro in which the use decreased from 123 minutes in 4Q14 to 81 minutes in 1Q15.
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More intense use of messaging applications such as WhatsApp has contributed to the fall of the minutes clients use to talk on the cell phone (Minutes of Use - MOU).
This drop can be observed also in voice ARPU.
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The use of messaging apps like WhatsApp stimulates the consumption of data packages what helps to increase operators' data revenue. Recently, Whatsapp launched a voice application which may contribute to the use of data and the reduction of operators' MOU.
Mobile data revenue increased 31.3% in comparison between 1Q15 and 1Q14 and already represents 37.1% of mobile operators' services revenue in Brazil.
The growth of mobile data revenue isn't bigger because these apps contribute also to the reduction of SMS revenue.
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At Vivo, the participation of SMS in data revenue dropped from 22.7% in 1Q14 to 16.7% in 1Q15.
At TIM, SMS revenue in 1Q15 showed reduction of 28% in relation to 1Q14.
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