Brazil ended May with 140mn 4G smartphones in operation and almost 208mn mobile accesses, telcos association SindiTelebrasil reported.
Around 24.5mn 4G accesses were activated between May 2018 and May 2019, SindiTelebrasil said. From January to May, 10.3mn 4G mobiles were activated, 2.3mn in May alone.
4G networks are now available in 4,534 municipalities where 96% of the population live, while 3G is available in 5,424 localities, covering 99.6% of the population.
Fixed broadband grew 5.8% in 12 months, with 1.8mn new accesses in the period.
In total, Brazil has nearly 240mn internet accesses, considering fixed and mobile connections, SindiTelebrasil said.
In related news, TIM reported its residential fixed broadband, TIM Live, surpassed the 500,000 subscriber mark in 14 cities. The company said it intends to take the service to over 40 cities by the end of 2021.
According to data from regulator Anatel, TIM has 1.6% of the fixed broadband market in the country, which is dominated by Claro (30% of the total).
Overall, TIM plans to invest 12.5bn reais 2019-21, a significant part of which is expected to go to fiber broadband expansion.
In the first quarter of the year, TIM reported 34% year-over-year increase in the ARPU of its fixed broadband service.
Source: https://www.bnamericas.com/en/news/brazil-has-140-mn-4g-smartphones-in-operation