Mobile leaders in 2021
The mobile leaderboard, in the eleven indicators monitored by Teleco, showed changes in 2021. Vivo led in eight (8) indicators, Claro in two (2) and Oi in one (1).
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In 2007, Teleco started monitoring the performance of mobile operators in Brazil, measured through indicators, which began to be reviewed annually in 2014. In 2019, a new indicator was introduced, postpaid growth without M2M.
In 1Q20, data revenue indicator was excluded since the data already represents more than 80% of services net revenue. Since 2Q20, Claro incorporates Nextel. In 2Q20, the postpaid market share indicator was replaced by postpaid without M2M and the order of presentation of the indicators changed.
| Leader in | 2020 | 1Q21 | 2Q21 | 3Q21 | 4Q21 | 2021 | ||
1 |
Cell Phones | Market Share | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo |
2 |
Mobile Growth | Net Additions | Claro | Claro | Algar | Vivo | Vivo | Claro |
3 |
Prepaid | Market Share | Vivo | TIM | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo |
4 |
Postpaid without M2M | Market Share | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo |
5 |
Growth of Postpaid without M2M | Net Additions | Claro | Claro | Algar | Claro | Oi | Oi |
6 |
M2M | M2M Market Share | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo |
7 |
4G | 4G Market Share | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo |
8 |
Revenue | Net Revenue | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo |
9 |
Revenue Growth | Services Growth Revenue | Claro | Claro | Claro | Claro | Claro | Claro |
10 |
Client Revenue | ARPU | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo |
11 |
Coverage | Population Covered by 2G, 3G and 4G |
Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo | Vivo |
Note: The analysis considers the operators Vivo, Claro, TIM, Oi and Algar. Nextel's results were incorporated into Claro.
2021 was a year of strong mobile growth in Brazil, with net additions of 19.3 million cell phones in the year. Growth occurred in postpaid (+15.1 million) and prepaid (+4.2 million).
The results for each of these eleven indicators in 4Q21 and for the year 2021 are presented below.
1) Mobile Market: Vivo led, but lost market share in the year
Vivo, the largest cell phone operator in Brazil, ended 2021 with 83.9 million cell phones and 33.1% market share.
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Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones in all quarters presented.
Claro consolidated its 2nd position and has been gaining market share. Oi gained market share during the year, while TIM continued to lose it in 2021.
These market share positions remain unchanged with the sale of Oi Mobile: Vivo (38.1%), Claro (32.3%) and TIM (27.1%).
| Cell Phones (Thousand) | 2020 | 1Q21 | 2Q21 | 3Q21 | 2021 | 2021 with Oi's Sale |
| Vivo | 78,532 |
79,682 |
80,965 |
82,253 | 83,921 | 96,494 |
| Claro | 63,139 |
66,338 |
67,775 |
69,217 | 70,541 | 83,410 |
| TIM | 51,433 |
51,728 |
51,341 |
51,614 | 52,066 | 68,665 |
| Oi | 36,651 |
38,564 |
40,333 |
40,702 | 42,041 | - |
| Algar | 2,628 |
2,765 |
2,963 |
3,207 | 3,552 | 3,552 |
Note: Claro includes Nextel in all quarters.
Below is the leaderboard in the regions, federation units and areas of registration in 2021.
| - | Market Share Leader in 2021 | ||
| Region | Federation Units | Area Codes | |
| Vivo | I, II and III | 12 | 34 |
| Claro | - | 8 | 14 |
| TIM | - | 4 | 13 |
| Oi | - | 3 | 4 |
| Algar | 2 | ||
2) Mobile Growth: Claro led net adds in the year
Claro led cellular growth in 2021 with net adds of 7.4 million cellulars, followed by Oi and Vivo.
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Net additions obtained in 2021 by the four largest operators were higher than in 2020.
| - | Net Additions (Thousand) | |||||
2020 |
1Q21 |
2Q21 |
3Q21 | 4Q21 |
2021 |
|
| Vivo | 3,950 |
1,150 |
1,283 |
1,288 | 1,668 | 5,389 |
| Claro | 5,141 |
3,199 |
1,437 |
1,442 | 1,324 | 7,402 |
| TIM | -3,014 |
295 |
-387 |
273 | 452 | 633 |
| Oi | -135 |
1,913 |
1,770 |
369 | 1,339 | 5,390 |
| Algar | 1,024 |
137 |
198 |
244 | 345 | 924 |
Note: Claro includes Nextel.
Claro led in postpaid net adds and Oi in prepaid in 4Q21.
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Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones.
Postpaid net additions are driven by the migration from prepaid to postpaid control plans and by the growth of M2M terminals.
3) Prepaid Market Share: Vivo was the leader
Vivo, which surpassed TIM in prepaid market share in 2Q20, remained stable in the leadership during 2021, ending the year with 34.3 million prepaid subscribers (28.8%). TIM has been losing market share and ended the year practically tied with Claro.
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These market share positions remain unchanged with the sale of Oi Mobile: Vivo (35.3%), TIM (32.3%) and Claro (31.3%).
| Prepaid (Thousand) | 2020 |
1Q21 |
2Q21 |
3Q21 | 2021 |
2021 with Oi's Sale | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vivo | 33,663
|
33,669
|
33,872 |
34,163 |
|
42,133 | |
| TIM | 29,603 |
29,509 |
29,185 |
29,239 |
|
38,400 | |
| Claro | 27,498 |
28,311 |
28,638 |
28,965 |
|
37,348 | |
| Oi | 22,969 |
23,503 |
24,421 |
24,683 |
|
- | |
| Algar | 690 |
668 |
652 |
636 | 613 |
613 |
Nota: Claro inclui Nextel.
Oi led in prepaid net adds in the year and presented the biggest gain (+2.3 million), followed by Claro (+1.6 million) and Vivo (+624 thousand). TIM (-402 thousand) presented negative net adds.
4) Postpaid market share without M2M: Vivo maintained its leadership
Vivo maintained its leadership in postpaid without M2M terminals with a market share of 36.9%, followed by Claro (29.0%).
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Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones in all quarters presented.
Vivo and TIM lost market share in this segment in 2021.
These market share positions remain unchanged with the sale of Oi Mobile: Vivo (41.4%), Claro (33.3%) and TIM (24.6%)
| Postpaid without M2M (thousand) | 2020 |
1Q21 |
2Q21 | 3Q21 |
2021 |
2021 with Oi's Sale |
| Vivo | 34,418 |
35,321 | 35,911 | 36,609 | 37,167 | 41,685 |
| Claro | 26,019 |
27,370 | 28,066 | 28,688 | 29,164 | 33,513 |
| TIM | 18,036 |
18,279 | 18,150 | 18,296 | 18,882 | 24,780 |
| Oi | 11,424 |
12,804 | 13,787 | 14070 | 14,765 | - |
| Algar | 536 |
566 | 573 | 596 | 601 | 601 |
Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones in all quarters presented.
This table shows few changes when M2M terminals are included in the postpaid.
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Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones in all quarters presented.
5) Growth of Postpaid without M2M: Oi led in the year
Oi led postpaid net adds without M2M in the year (+3.3 million), followed by Claro (2.7 million).
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After the incorporation of Oi Móvel, this leadership would have belonged to Vivo (4.2 million), followed by Claro (4.1 million) and TIM (1.8 million).
6) M2M Market Share: Vivo was the leader
Vivo and Claro competed for leadership in market share in M2M terminals during 2021.
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These market share positions remain unchanged with the sale of Oi Mobile: Vivo (37.7%), Claro (37.3%) and TIM (16.3%).
| M2M (Thousand) | 2020 |
1Q21 |
2Q21 |
3Q21 |
2021 |
2021 with Oi's Sale |
| Vivo | 10,452 |
10,692 | 11,182 | 11,481 | 12,467 | 12,676 |
| Claro | 9,622 |
10,657 | 11,071 | 11,583 | 12,236 | 12,548 |
| TIM | 3,794 |
3,940 | 4,006 | 4079 | 3,983 | 5,485 |
| Oi | 2,257 |
2,257 | 2,124 | 1949 | 2,024 | - |
| Algar | 1,449 | 1,531 | 1,738 | 1975 | 2,337 | 362 |
Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones in all quarters presented.
Vivo led in M2M net adds in the quarter (+618 thousand) and Claro in the year (+2,614 thousand). Most of these net additions are from standard terminals (credit card machines) and not from IoT.
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7) Market Share 4G: Vivo was the leader
Vivo is the leader in 4G market share, followed by Claro, which continues with the second position in market share in 4Q21.
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Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones in all quarters presented.
| 4G (Thousand) | 2020 | 1Q21 | 2Q21 | 3Q21 | 2021 |
| Vivo | 55,950 | 57,675 | 59,401 | 60,743 | 61,856 |
| Claro | 46,181 | 48,203 | 50,390 | 51,417 | 52,676 |
| TIM | 42,043 | 43,971 | 44,357 | 45,819 | 46,314 |
| Oi | 26,758 | 28,263 | 29,992 | 31,128 | 32,140 |
Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones in all quarters presented.
TIM is the leader in terms of 4G share in its cellular base (89.0%), followed by Claro (74.7%), Oi (76.4%) and Vivo (73.7%).
8) Net Revenue: Vivo Has the Leadership
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Note: Claro includes Nextel's cell phones in all quarters presented
Vivo remained well ahead in the leadership with a total net revenue of R$ 29.4 billion in 2021, followed by Claro.
| R$ Million | 2020 | 1Q21 | 2Q21 | 3Q21 | 4Q21 | 2021 |
| Vivo | 28,421 | 7,147 | 6,990 | 7,391 | 7,847 | 29,376 |
| Claro | 17,756 | 4,059 | 4,124 | 4,225 | 4,503 | 19,041 |
| TIM | 16,214 | 1,752 | 1,742 | 1,568 | 2,145 | 16,911 |
| Oi | 8,422 | 4,565 | 4,685 | 4,755 | - | - |
Note: Oi had not disclosed its results as of the date of this comment.
9) Growth of Services Net Revenue: Claro was the leader
Claro maintained the leadership in growth of services net revenue in 2021 (8.1%) followed by TIM (5.0%).
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Note: Oi had not disclosed its results as of the date of this comment.
10) ARPU: Vivo kept ARPU leadership
Vivo kept the leadership in ARPU but TIM's ARPU has been growing so the company started to fight for the leadership.
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Note: Claro includes Nextel.
| ARPU (R$) | 1Q20 |
2Q20 |
3Q20 |
4Q20 |
1Q21 |
2Q21 |
3Q21 |
4Q21 |
| Vivo | 29.0 |
27.9 |
28.5 |
29.1 |
27.4 | 26.8 | 27.8 | 28.2 |
| TIM | 24.0 |
23 |
25.4 |
27.0 |
25.5 | 25.8 | 26.5 | 27.7 |
| Claro | 23.9 |
23.4 |
24.0 |
24.0 |
22 | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| Oi | 16.2 |
15.5 |
16.3 |
- |
- | - | - | - |
Note: ARPU values reported by operators are not fully comparable because they use different criteria in their calculation.
Note: Oi had not disclosed its results as of the date of this comment.
11) Coverage: Vivo was the leader
Vivo maintained its leadership in covered population in 2021 (97.6%), followed by TIM (97.4). Vivo is the leader in 3G coverage, available to 97.0% of the population. Claro leads in 2G (94.0%) and TIM in 4G (96.0%).
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Vivo continued to lead in total number of municipalities (5,002), followed by TIM (4,907), Claro (4,304) and Oi (3,611).
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