The number of broadband connections in Brazil reached 53.9 million in October, an increase of 68.4% compared with the same month last year, the Brazilian Association of Telecommunications (Telebrasil) reported. Broadband activations in Brazil totaled 3.2 million connections, a 66% increase compared with 2011’s monthly average, pushing the rate of broadband activations to more than one new access every second. Since the beginning of 2011, 19.5 million new subscribers have been added to the customer base, representing growth of 64% compared with the same period last year.
From the total of 53.9 million, 16.3 million are fixed broadband connections while 37.6 million connections are mobile, which is the same number reported by Brazil’s telecommunications regulator. Anatel‘s figures for October show that of Brazil’s 231.6 million mobile subscribers, 37.6 million were on 3G (WCDMA and data terminals). GSM still accounts for the largest portion, with 192.1 million subscribers, or 82.9% of the total.
Vivo leads the Brazilian market with 68.6 million subscribers, representing a 29.6% share. Vivo is followed by TIM with 26%, Claro with 25.2% and Oi (NYSE: TNE) with 18.9%, with CTBC (0.29%) and Sercomtel (0.03%) accounting for a small fraction of the market.
The fixed broadband — present in all Brazilian municipalities — has expanded its customer base by 3 million hits from October 2010, an increase of 22.4%. The number of mobile broadband connections doubled in the past 12 months, an increase of 18.9 million new accesses, resulting in an increase of 101.1% in the period. Of the total mobile connections, modems account for 7.4 million, and 30.2 million were 3G connections that allow connection to the Internet.
Telebrasil said that development is significant as a result of carriers’ constant work of providing telecommunications services to increase coverage and capacity of their networks.
The association also noted that carriers were far beyond the obligations of 3G coverage, which in 2011 is almost double the target set for 2013. According to the announcement of the bid for those services, mobile broadband should be available in 928 cities by April 2013. The networks are currently active in nearly 1,800 municipalities, accounting for 78% of the population.
In addition, Telebrasil shows that 60% of users can choose between at least two providers of mobile broadband. More than 500 cities have had 3G technology activated this year, with the installation of broadband averaging more than one municipality per day.
Related: New rules impeding mobile’s growth in Brazil, SindiTelebrasil chief says
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