As this Mobile Review of the networks in Brazil is not based on the full methodology of our regular network benchmarks, we abstai­n­ed from grading the operators. However, analyzing the P3 crowd data provides a good indica­tion of their achieve­ments.

The extensive crowdsourcing analysis, based on 6.3 billion samples collected in a 3-month period from December 2018 to February 2019 and additional analyses for large Brazilian cities (here for the nation‘s capital, Brasilia, as well as for Rio de Janeiro) provide clear results: Mobile coverage and good network performance clearly concentrate on Brazil‘s larger cities and metropolitan areas. 

These findings can be explained to some degree by the huge size of the country and its distinct geographical distribution of the population – about 90 per cent of the Brazilian population are located in the federal states near the southern and eastern coast of the country.

Particularly in the metropolitan areas, the performance and quality of mobile networks is overall acceptable and keeps up with the average of international operators. However, in the more rural areas of Brazil, there is room for improvement for all Brazilian operators.

In our nationwide assessment, Telefónica (Vivo) leads the field overall and also shows the best voice and data coverage.
TIM ranks best in 4G coverage, while Claro achieves the best score for the average user download speed. In the considered evaluation period, Telefónica and Oi suffered the least service degradations, thus achieving the best score for data service availability.

Deeper insights as well as results for different evaluation areas and periods can be made avail­able to inter­ested parties on request. 

The originally state-­owned Telebás was demerged and privatized in 1998. International telecommuni-cations provider Telefónica bought the São Paulo division and expanded it by subsequent mergers and joint ventures. In 2006, the several holding companies merged into the single company Vivo. In 2012, all Brazilian Tele­fónica services were rebranded to Vivo.

Today, Telefónica holds about 74% of Vivo‘s shares. With approximately 74 million subscribers, Vivo is Brazil‘s largest operator. It operates GSM at 850, 900 and 1800 MHz, UMTS at 850 and 2100 MHz as well as LTE and LTE-Advanced at 700, 1800 and 2600 MHz.

Claro Brasil was created in 2003, uniting the regional operators Americel, ATL, BCP, Claro Digital and TESS. Today, the resulting company Claro is controlled by the Mexican company América Móvil, which is also present in 16 other Latin American countries. Claro‘s offerings include mobile, satellite television, fixed and broadband telecommuni-cations.

With approximately 59 million subscribers, Claro is Brazil‘s second largest mobile operator. It offers GSM at 850 and 1800 MHz, UMTS at 850 and 2100 MHz, as well as LTE/LTE-A at 700, 1800 and 2600 MHz.

Founded in 1998, TIM Brasil SA was originally a subsidiary of Telecom Italia Mobile (TIM). In 2016 the mother company itself became part of Telecom Italia. In addition to its mobile networks, TIM also offers fixed-line internet connections in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

Today, TIM has about 56 million mobile customers and thus ranks as the third largest mobile operator in Brazil. The company operates GSM at 850 and 1800 MHz, UMTS at 850, 900 and 2100 MHz plus LTE/LTE-Advanced networks at 700, 850, 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz.

Formerly known as Telemar, Oi is the largest fixed tele­communications operator in Brazil, also offering 
Pay TV. With approximately 37 million mobile customers, the company is the country‘s fourth largest mobile operator. In contrast to its three larger competitors, Oi does not belong to any multi-­national tele­communications company – about 76 per cent of its shares are free floating. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2016, but managed to keep operating since.

It offers GSM at 1800 MHz, UMTS at 850, 900 and 2100 MHz as well as LTE/LTE-A at 1800, 2100 and 2600 MHz.

With a gross domestic product of 1.9 billion dollars in 2018, Brazil is the ninth largest economy worldwide. Regarding land area and population, Brazil is the fifth largest country in the world. And with approximately 208 million people, Brazil is the most populated country in South America. After a recession in 2015 and 2016, Brazil‘s economy is growing again.

All these factors are very good reasons for P3 and connect to take a closer look into the Brazilian mobile communications market. P3, headquartered in Aachen, Germany, is a world leader in mobile network testing. The company has over 3,500 employees world­wide and a turnover of more than 350 mil­lion Euros. P3 is partnering with the international telecommuni­cations magazine connect, which has more than 20 years of editorial expertise and is one of the leading test authorities in Europe for tele­communications products and services. 

Together, P3 and connect have been conducting the most impor­tant network benchmark test in Germany for more than 15 years, extending it to other European countries since 2009. P3 and connect also exa­mined many other mobile networks all over the world including those in the US.

As the de-facto industry standard, the P3 benchmarking methodology focuses on customer-perceived network quality. P3‘s network tests are widely accepted as a completely objective authority. 

CROWDSOURCING PROVIDES INTERESTING RESULTS FOR NATIONWIDE NETWORK QUALITY AS WELL AS DETAILED INSIGHTS FOR METROPOLITAN AREAS

Recently, P3 and connect have extended the scope of their network assessments with a qualified look into the Brazilian mobile market. This market is particularly interesting due to its market penetration rate of approximately 110 per cent (see “Operators in Brazil” above ) and its four nation­wide operators, who each serve tens of millions of mobile customers. 

P3 and connect recognize the challenges of providing mobile communications services in this huge country with its unique geography and a very special geographic distribution of the population. Therefore, the following review is mainly based on the results of crowdsourced assessments. In order to take a closer look into some of the densely populated city areas, we have also included detailed analyses for the nation‘s capital Brasilia and the metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro as well as a comparison of their results to those of other leading world capitals.