Brazil is hopeful of getting 5G this year

 

Brazil has four major operators resulting from numerous mergers and acquisitions, they share 97% of the mobile market:  Vivo (Telefónica Brazil, owned by Spanish Telefónica), TIM (owned by Telecom Italia), Claro (owned by Mexican América Móvil) and Oi (formerly Brasil Telecom).

Vivo (pronounced like 'VEE-voo') is the largest mobile carrier in Brazil, which is owned by Telefónica from Spain and has 32% of the Brazilian market share in 2018. From their total of 75 million subscribers only 57% are using prepaid plans. It was the last operator to allow prepaid customers on 4G/LTE in 2015. Vivo is known to have the most reliable network at the highest rates in the country.

Vivo's network has national coverage and it became the brand for all consumer services provided by Telefónica in Brazil, which include broadband internet, TV subscription and fixed telephone lines.

TIM (pronounced like 'cheem'), owned by Telecom Italia, is the prepaid leader in the country. It’s the overall no. 3 with a total share of 24% or 56 million subscribers, 79.5% are using a prepaid plan. TIM is present in all Brazilian states. 

Claro (pronounced like 'CLAH-row') is the third largest mobile operator in Brazil owned by Mexican América Móvil. It has kept a 25% of the Brazilian market share making it no.2 in the country. Of their total of 59 million subscribers, 74% are using a prepaid plan.

Claro's network has national coverage and similar to Vivo, Claro offers additional services, like fixed broadband connection, telephone line and TV subscription.

Claro partnered with Ericsson to present the first 5G stadium in Brazil. The event, which took place during the Led Zeppelin show in Concert no Allianz Parque Hall, included the first holographic transmission in real time in the country performed with 5G technology.

Oi (the Brazilian word for 'hi') is the fourth largest mobile operator in Brazil that is currently owned by CorpCo, a joint venture with Portugal Telecom, and has 17% of the Brazilian market share. Of their total of 39 million subscribers, they have a high prepaid share. 81% are using a prepaid plan making Oi the number two on the prepaid phone market.

Oi network has national coverage and also offers additional services similar to other major operators, like fixed broadband connection, telephone line and TV subscription.

Oi may be the smallest of the big four, but it has the largest WI-FI network in Brazil with more than 1 million access points. Oi has furthermore a national roaming agreement with TIM closing some gaps due to its lower coverage. 

A consortium comprising Telefonica, Telecom Italia and America Movil’s Claro secured a BRL16.5 billion ($3.2 billion) agreement to acquire Oi’s mobile business, a deal expected to be completed in 2021.

According to the recent Open Signal report, when comes to the consumer mobile network experience in Brazil, it is a two-horse race develop between Claro and TIM.

The rollout of 4G on the 700 MHz spectrum band in Brazil is having a big impact, as users on networks that have implemented it are spending more time on 4G and are on average enjoying faster download speeds. Also seen is a cascading effect of this on the Video and Voice App Experience as upload and latency measurements have also improved. And with an upcoming auction of 5G licenses — including more spectrum in the 700 MHz band — Open Signal expects the mobile network experience to continue to improve as the market matures.

The Brazilian government aims to carry out a tender to award 5G spectrum by the end of the first half of 2021, according to Brazilian press reports. According to government officials, the future 5G spectrum auction will be “the largest auction for the right to use radio frequency of the country’s history“.

Brazil has joined a US-led proposal for building transparent and reliable 5G networks, representing another blow to Chinese vendor Huawei which is regarded as the main target of the scheme; 31 of 37 OECD countries already joined the pact, which now counts a total 49 nations.

Reuters reported Brazilian operators had been offered financial support by US authorities to opt for kit from Western vendors including Nokia and Ericsson, but they were not willing to reduce their choices and were already testing Huawei equipment before a 5G auction in the country, expected in 2021.

Brazil: Improving 4G, 5G coming in 2020

Brazil is one of the largest mobile markets in Latin America, with four major mobile operators offering a range of voice and data services: Telefónica’s Vivo, Claro Brasil, TIM Brasil, and Oi. 

All four operators have secured spectrum in the 2.5GHz band with which they are expanding their LTE networks to capitalise on consumer demand for mobile data services. The government has also made available the 700MHz band (previously allocated to TV broadcasters) for mobile broadband use, and about 70% of this spectrum had been released by broadcasters by late 2018.

Brazilian telecommunications agency Anatel is engaged in discussions on an international level regarding the deployment of the 5G standards. Preliminary information indicates that the agency is to allocate the 3.5GHz or 28 GHz band for the roll out of 5G in Brazil.

Brazil’s market leader is Vivo, it has a 28.5% market share with 73 million subscribers, 57% of whom are using prepaid plans. People view the service as the best in the country and as having the most reliable network coverage. This comes at a price, though, since it also has the highest rates of all the providers.

Vivo uses 4 GSM bands, 2 UMTS bands, and 1 LTE band. According to Open Signal in their most recent report Vivo delivered the second fastest 4G speed in their tests, averaging 21.3 Mbps.

Tim owned by Telecom Italia, their mobile customers are 55.9 million, of which 34.5 million are 4G users, and they have a 24.4% market share.  They use 1 GSM band, 2 UMTS bands, and 2 LTE bands. Their 2G, 3G and 4G services are available across Brazil.

Their 4G network is present in 3,272 cities, reaching 93% of urban population.

TIM emerged as the clear winner in 4G availability in the recent Open Signal report. Users on TIM were able to find an LTE signal 59.2% of the time. In general, though, no operator in Brazil was able to provide consistent 4G connectivity. 

In 2018 TIM Brasil continued to expand its fixed ultra-broadband network. The FTTH technology (Fiber to the Home) reached 1.1 million homes in 11 cities , of which 5 are capitals and the FTTC technology (Fiber to the Cabinet) 3.5 million in 4 cities, with a total of 4.3 million households in 14 cities.

TIM’s aims to focus on  modernization, simplification and artificial intelligence to build a new and automated 5G network while continuing to dismiss and consolidate legacy assets such as data centers and exchanges. They have started discussions with Open Fiber to explore all possible options, including a business combination to generate opportunity that a single network presents. TIM has reached 99 percent of the population with 4G and 80 percent with Fiber. TIM will expand the coverage, in synergy with 5G deployment. They will be focusing on quality of Giga network. Ultra-broadband penetration will grow to 80 percent of TIM’s broadband client base by 2021 from 45 percent in 2018.

Claro is the third largest operator in Brazil. It has a 25% market share with more than 50 million prepaid customers. Claro has the best coverage on 4G/LTE and is very popular with the younger crowd who are looking for good prepaid deals.
According to Open Signal the average 4G download speed for Claro is 27.5 Mbps, which was more than double the average speeds measured on Oi and TIM's LTE networks. Claro also had the best 3G performance in their speed rankings, averaging HSPA download speeds of 3.9 Mbps.

Oi (Brazilians use this for hello) is the smallest of the big four operators and has an 18% market share. Oi has the largest Wi-Fi network with more than 1 million access points across Brazil. However they lost 8.5 percent of their mobile clients in 2017/18, ending June 218 with 36.5 million subscribers. Their CEO has also stated that 'We're in judicial recovery, not bankruptcy'. 


Brazil is a good example of mobile operators teaming up,  to deliver coverage in areas especially when hosting football matches during the 2013 Confederations Cup and the 2014 World Cup.

Regulators allowed the deal under the proviso it would improve regional coverage and would not harm competition. The partnerships improved operational efficiencies and allowed operators to deploy infrastructure in smaller regional areas.

One of the agreements, between operators Vivo and Claro, was so successful that the shared approach to cell sites more than double from the initial agreement.

“Today, the shared network of Claro and Vivo covers 5.6 million people in rural areas. From the government’s perspective, the benefits were twofold: first, it accelerated the provision of mobile services; and second, it increased service level competition,” GSMA reported.



Further reading:

• Open Signal Report - Brazil: Mobile Network Experience Report, January 2019