Brazil: Mobile Subscribers Total 115mn at End-Oct

Brazil recorded 1.93mn new mobile lines in October to end the month with almost 115mn, an increase of 1.72% compared to end-September, local telecoms regulator Anatel said in a statement.

The mobile user base in Brazil is now 80.4% prepaid. The country added 18.04mn new mobile lines in the last 12 months, according to Anatel.

The mobile penetration rate was 60.4% at end-October, compared to 59.5% at end-September.

Brazil's capital BrasÃlia continued to have the highest penetration rate in the country with 113% at the end of October, followed by Rio de Janeiro state with 76.2% and the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul with 73.3%.

Meanwhile, Brazil's largest mobile operator Vivo saw its market share shrink by 0.17 percentage points in October to 27.61% from 27.78% at the end of September.

TIM's market share edged up 0.16 points to 25.88% in October from 25.87% the previous month, and the country's third largest mobile operator Claro increased its share by 0.07 points to 24.89% from 24.82% in September.

According to Anatel, GSM technology now accounts for 75.5% of mobile lines, followed by CDMA technology with 19.3% and TDMA lines with 5.2%.

Posted to the site on 26th November 2007