Anatel: Vivo Maintains Leadership in May with 32.99% of Subscribers

Brazil's largest mobile phone company Vivo maintained its leadership in May with 32.99% of subscribers compared to 33.33% in April, according to monthly data from telecom regulator Anatel.

However, Vivo, a local joint venture between Spain's Telefónica and Portugal Telecom, continued to lose market share and faces fierce competition from TIM Participações, the Brazilian unit of Telecom Italia Mobile, and Claro, owned by América Móvil.

"This is not a surprise. The only thing that's harder than getting to the top, is staying there," said telecoms analyst Thomas Abreu at Pyramid Research.

"However, it is worrying that Vivo is losing market share, whilst not performing too well with its ARPU," said Abreu.

The battle for second place is also heating up. TIM Participações held second place with 23.59% in May compared to 23.58% in April.

Telmex's Claro aggressively captured new clients and moved closer to TIM with 22.24% from 22.02% in April.

"TIM performed strongly last year and gained market share to become the number two," noted Abreu.

"But it is not surprising that Claro has come back by aggressively targeting the low-end, pre-paid market."

"Claro also moved into new markets such as Minas Gerais state, which adds new subscribers," Abreu added.

Other companies Oi reached 12.78% in May from 12.65%; Telemig and Amazônia Celular dipped to 5.01% from 5.09%, and Brasil Telecom GSM tipped 2.86% from 2.78%.

BNamericas.com"

Posted to the site on 21st June 2006