During Brazil’s recent ABTA show, Vivo President Amos Genish said WhatsApp is a clandestine service as it is not regulated in Brazil and not subject to the same regulations or fiscal duties. By calling the over-the-top player, acquired by Facebook, a “pirate,” Genish was clearly calling out TIM and Claro, two carriers that have zero-rating partnership with WhatsApp. Vivo, which belongs to the Telefónica group, is Brazil’s largest mobile operator and has made clear its position against partnering with OTT players.
In June, America Movil’s Claro mobile unit in Brazil announced a strategy focused on including zero-rating access to Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp in its prepaid and postpaid packages. TIM, the Telecom Italia unit in Brazil, closed a deal with WhatsApp last year. Under the agreement, TIM Brasil customers who have the postpaid “controle” plan can use WhatsApp without paying for the data consumption used by the OTT service.
TIM bets on 4G 
Rodrigo Abreu, president of TIM Brasil, said during the company’s second quarter conference call that “4G” currently accounts for 20% of its data traffic. TIM counted 3.8 million subscribers using the technology, which could change the carrier’s strategy. Until now, TIM has focused its growth in the prepaid business. Smartphone penetration across its customer base has grown from 39% in Q2 2014 to 59% this year. Over the same period, data traffic increased 32% and data average revenue per user grew by 42%. In Q2, TIM posted an organic net income of R$291 million ($82.7 million), 20% less than the same quarter last year. Check all the quarterly numbers here.
Telefónica results
Telefónica reported financial results, which showed net profits of 3.693 billion euros ($4 billion) through the first half of the year, double the amount reached in the same period of 2014. The most recent results include the recent acquisition of GVT. Revenue stood at 11.876 billion euros in the second quarter of 2015, a 4.4% year-over-year increase.
Costa Rica
Costa Rica’s telecom market last year generated $1.3 billion in revenues, as reported by telecom regulator Sutel. The market ended 2014 with 7.1 million mobile lines, a penetration of 149%.
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