Is Brazil Mobile-Ready for FIFA World Cup? Infonetics Report Says No

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its new 2G, 3G, LTE Mobile Infrastructure and Subscribers in Brazil market share and forecast report, which tracks GSM, W-CDMA, and LTE equipment and mobile subscribers in Brazil.

ANALYST NOTE

“Despite the size of the country and its economic clout, Brazil’s mobile infrastructure is modest in size, with a total installed base of just 60,000 base transceiver stations at the beginning of last year. For comparison’s sake, AT&T alone has roughly this many BTS in the U.S.,” notes Stéphane Téral, Infonetics’ principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics.

“Brazil has even bigger problems to address, of course, with ongoing anti-World Cup riots and other infrastructure issues, but I don’t see how they will possibly be mobile-ready in 4 months for the FIFA World Cup,” adds Téral. “They’ve installed distributed antenna systems (DAS) in some stadiums, so those should be fine, but there are way too few base transceiver stations in surrounding neighborhoods, such as those around the Maracanã stadium in Rio, to handle the mobile traffic of the impending crowds. And currently there are only 24 base transceiver stations in Jacarepaguá, where most of the Olympics will be hosted in 2016. Brazil has some work to do.”

BRAZIL MOBILE INFRASTRUCTURE MARKET HIGHLIGHTS

• With 136% mobile penetration – 276 million subscribers – and not enough base transceiver stations (BTS) to accommodate the load, mobile communications in Brazil are slow, around 1.4 Mbps on average
• 3G, not LTE, was the major spending event in Brazil in 2013 ($278 million vs. $96 million)
• Telefónica’s Vivo is Brazil’s top mobile operator, slightly ahead of Telecom Italia’s TIM
• On the vendor side, NSN leads the Brazilian RAN market with over a 1/3 market share; Ericsson is a close 2^nd, with Huawei rounding out the top 3
• Infonetics expects Brazil’s mobile infrastructure market to grow through 2016 and then turn bleak as major infrastructure projects are completed, resulting in a 2013–2018 CAGR of -0.4%
• The ongoing shift from prepaid to postpaid is Brazil’s major transformation: A decade ago, over 85% of Brazil’s mobile subscriber base was prepaid, falling to around 71% today

BRAZIL MOBILE REPORT SYNOPSIS

Infonetics’ annual mobile infrastructure and subscribers in Brazil report provides market size, vendor market share, forecasts through 2018, analysis, and trends for 2G (GSM), 3G (W-CDMA), and 4G (LTE) equipment and subscribers in Brazil. The report includes statistics collected from Brazil’s national regulatory agency Anatel and Teleco Inteligencia em Telecomunicações. It also features an LTE Deployment Tracker that details operator deployments and trials. To buy the report, contact Infonetics: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp.

INFONETICS WEBINARS

Visit https://www.infonetics.com/infonetics-events to register for upcoming webinars, view recent webinars on demand, or learn about sponsoring a webinar.

• SDN and NFV: The Nitty Gritty (Mar. 18: Attend)
• Security at the Speed of VoLTE (Apr. 10: Attend)
• Cashing in on Service Provider Wi-Fi (View on-demand)
• Distributed Antenna Systems: What's Next (May 22: Sponsor)
• Service Provider Outsourcing: How Far Will it Go? (July 8: Sponsor)

RELATED REPORT EXCERPTS

• Infonetics’ February Mobile research brief: http://bit.ly/MEjLuy
• Outdoor small cell challenges mount, stymieing deployments
• Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei and Cisco get top marks from operators in mobile backhaul wireline survey
• Mobile security gateway market closes 2013 up 70%
• As operators strive for “zero touch networks,” optimization/self-organizing market grows
• Mobile operators leaning on self-organizing networks to keep opex in check
• Service provider capex increasing 6% in 2013, ignited by BRIC countries; revenue to hit $2T

UPCOMING MARKET FORECAST REPORTS & SURVEYS

Download Infonetics’ 2014 market research brochure, publication calendar, events brochure, report highlights, tables of contents, and more at http://www.infonetics.com/login.

• 2G, 3G, LTE Mobile Infrastructure & Subscribers - 4Q13 (Mar.)
• 3G & LTE Mobile Broadband Devices & Subscribers - 4Q13 (Mar.)
• Small Cell Equipment (Mar.)
• 2G, 3G, LTE Mobile Infrastructure & Subscribers in Japan & China (Apr.)
• DAS Equipment (Apr.)
• Service Provider Outsourcing to Vendors (May)
• IP RAN & 3GPP Strategies & Vendor Leadership: Global Service Provider Survey (May)
• Service Provider Capex, Revenue & Capex by Equipment Type (May)

TO BUY REPORTS, CONTACT:

N. America (West), Asia Pacific: Larry Howard, [e-mail], [phone]

N. America (East, Midwest), L. America: Scott Coyne, [e-mail], [phone]

EMEA, India, Singapore: George Stojsavljevic, [e-mail], [phone]

Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

ABOUT INFONETICS

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete effectively. View Infonetics’ About Us slides at http://bit.ly/QUrbrV.