Brazil added more than 39 million mobile phone lines in 2011, an increase of nearly 20 percent over the previous year's numbers and the most since 2000, according to telecom regulator Anatel.
The total number of mobile phone subscriptions in Brazil now sits at 242.2 million, more than 81 percent of which are prepaid. Around 41 million of Brazil's active handsets are 3G-enabled, representing a near 100 percent increase over the 2010 figures.
Vivo, or Telecomunicacoes Brasil, retained its lead in the market by capturing a 30 percent share. Following closely in second was TIM Participacoes SA (TSU), which edged out rival Claro (News - Alert) by ending the year with 64 million customers, or 26.4 percent of the market. Claro finished in third with just shy of 25 percent of the market.
Wall Street analysts have ticketed both Vivo and TIM with “outperform” recommendations, with Vivo remaining the “pacesetter” in the market. The company's dominance in the market is “primarily attributable to the recent launching of new products like Vivo Sempre (targeting pre-paid users) and Vivo Ilimitado (targeting post-paid users),” noted analysts Susana Salaru and Carlos Constantini.
The report comes just a week before Brazil's trade ministry will meet to decide whether it will require Anatel to set a quality threshold for cell phone equipment imports. Like many other South American nations, Brazil's market has been inundated with thousands of low-price, low-quality cell phones from countries like China. The number of cell phone exports to Brazil has nearly doubled in the past two years, said Total Telecom.
“We want to impede the entrance of low-quality equipment to the country,” Trade Minister Fernando Pimentel told the news source.
The trade ministry meeting was scheduled after Abinee, an association of Brazilian electronic manufacturers, issued a formal complaint about a flood of phones as cheap as $12 hitting the market.
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Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
