Brazil Achieves More Than 16 Million Broadband Connections

SAO PAULO, Brazil, – Cisco today presented the 14th edition of the Cisco® Broadband Barometer, a study conducted by IDC. The study shows that the total broadband market in Brazil reached 16.2 million connections in the first half of 2010, with a 1.18 million increase in the number of users within the same period. This represents an increase of 7.9 percent over the previous half year and of 18.1 percent over 2009.

The growth shown in the first two quarters of 2010 was made possible by growth in the number of home computers, which in turn was motivated by lower tax rates applied to equipment costing up to 4,000 reais, and by cost-effective broadband plans available to new users.

In 2008, Cisco and IDC established a goal for Brazil of 15 million broadband connections by 2010. Including mobile broadband, the goal was achieved in 2009.
Highlights

* The average speed of broadband connections in Brazil in the first half of 2010 increased considerably since the second half of 2008, with a significant growth in connections faster than 2 megabits per second: from 18.5 percent to 36.5 percent of all connections. Ranking second, at 26.7 percent, are connections at speeds between 1 and 1.99 Mbps. Lower speeds, between 512 and 999 kilobits per second, which were the most commonly found in the previous period (26.6 percent), currently make up only 11.2 percent of all connections.
* The so-called Banda Larga Popular program for social inclusion developed by the state governments of São Paulo, Pará and Distrito Federal made broadband Internet connections available at a cost of 29.80 reais a month. The program has pushed down the prices of broadband plans while speeds increased. The 400 Kbps ADSL connection that cost 49.99 reais in June 2009 had a speed of 512 Kbps and cost 29.80 reais in June 2010. On the other hand, higher-speed plans became even faster and more expensive within the same period. Connection speeds increased from 20 Mbps to 100 Mbps (for ADSL) and from 12 Mbps to 50 Mbps (cable modem), and their cost went up from 286.40 reais to 499.90 reais and from 239.90 reais to 399.90 reais, respectively.
* Mobile telephony access continues to grow, but not at the same rapid pace it had been growing before. Growth in June 2010 was 10.6 percent from December 2009 and 46 percent from June 2009. Total mobile broadband connections (mobile access via desktops, notebooks and netbooks) reached 3.9 million in the first half of this year. Growth rates of fixed broadband proved to be lower than that of mobile broadband – 7 percent higher between December 2009 and June 2010.
* The adoption of mobile broadband in the home/personal market segment has grown faster than it has in the corporate segment. In the first half of 2010, the percentage of home broadband connections increased from 76.9 percent in 2009 to 78.1 percent, while in the corporate segment, they went down from 23.1 percent to 21.9 percent within the same period.
* Including mobile broadband, Brazil has achieved a penetration of 8.49 broadband connections per 100 inhabitants. São Paulo has 13.98 percent of all broadband connections.
* The state of São Paulo continues to represent the most broadband connections in the country, holding 41.3 percent of the massive market.
* The Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics released the first results of the 2010 census (Censo-2010) on Nov. 30. The data presented here reflect this update.

Supporting Quote:

* Marcelo Ehalt, head of engineering, Cisco Brazil

"Brazil wants to effectively enter the 21st century at a new technological level. Health care, education, economic development, social inclusion and productivity issues must be improved quickly with the use of technology, and broadband is a great facilitator of this process"

"Information and communications technology affects growth, and broadband affects it the most: A 10 percentage-point increase in high-speed Internet connections results in a 1.3 percentage-point increase in economic growth (a year-over-year increase in real per capita GDP), according to the World Bank"

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