According to data published by the Brazilian telecoms regulator Anatel, the country had 128 million active mobile lines at the end of April 2008. of the total, 80.9% were pre-paid and 19.1% on monthly contracts. A net new 1.9 million lines were added in April, up 1.54% on the previous month and 22.5% up on April 2007, lifting cellular penetration to 66.84 active mobile lines per 100 inhabitants, the watchdog said. BNamericas reports that the highest mobile teledensity was recorded in Distrito Federal with 123 active lines per 100 inhabitants, followed by the Rio de Janeiro state, with 83.3 lines, and the Mato Grosso do Sul state with 81.3 lines.
In terms of mobile market share, Vivo still leads the way with 27.2%, albeit that the figure is down 0.08 percentage points compared to February. TIM Brasil claimed second place with a 25.9% market share, followed by America Movil’s Claro unit with 24.8%. Telemar’s Oi increased its share of subscribers by 0.18% to 14% by end-April, while fifth-spot was shared by sister cellcos Telemig Celular and Amazonia Celular with 4.22% (down from 4.29% a month earlier). Brasil Telecom improved its position marginally by 0.02% to 3.66%, CTBC Telecom Celular’s share decreased from 0.31% to 0.30% and Sercomtel Celular remained stable at 0.06%.
The most popular technology in Brazil continues to be GSM, accounting for 106 million lines, or 82.7% of the total, at 30 April 2008. CDMA accounted for a further 18 million lines (14.2%), TDMA, 3.9 million (3.09%), and AMPS analogue technology had just 12,239 lines (0.01%).