Federica Laricchia
Research expert covering the global consumer technology industry
In today’s world, where communication is essential – be it through mobile devices or fixed-line telephones - the telecommunication industry plays a key role. The development of the telecoms market in Brazil, which generated revenue of around seven million U.S. dollars in 2023, is a two-sided story. On the one hand, the fixed-telephony market has been decreasing, counting around 25.5 million landlines in service in 2023. On the other hand, the mobile telephony industry keeps increasing, totaling over 256 million active mobile phone lines in the same year.
All in all, telecom services, both fixed and mobile lines, are integral to everyday life in Brazil, and we can expect the telecom industry to grow in the Latin American country in the near future, providing users with new and advanced technologies, such as 5G, to stay connected with the rest of our digitalized world.
Internet services: an ongoing trend
Brazilians are still craving online connectivity, both at home and outside. Indeed, in recent years, the fixed broadband market grew in the Portuguese-speaking country, generating increasingly higher revenues. Likewise, mobile internet is more relevant than ever, since 99 percent of Brazilian internet users access the web with their phones. Given its importance, telecom providers offer competitive data plans. Three operators in particular dominate the Brazilian mobile telephony market, namely, Telefónica, Claro, and TIM. In 2023, Telefónica was the leader, holding a market share of almost 40 percent. Claro and TIM followed, occupying lower but still significant ratios of that industry.The twilight of fixed telephony?
The fixed telephony industry saw a slow but steady decline throughout the 2010s. As of 2022, there were around less than 13 million fixed-telephone subscriptions per 100 inhabitants, the lowest number since 2000. Similarly, the revenue generated by fixed telephony services reached an all-time low in that same year, amounted to around 2.5 billion U.S. dollars. This downturn may reflect shifting consumer habits, as mobile telephony and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) grow in use and quality. However, in a country where roughly 15 percent of the population still had no access to the internet in 2024, time will tell if it was too soon to start discarding fixed telephony altogether.All in all, telecom services, both fixed and mobile lines, are integral to everyday life in Brazil, and we can expect the telecom industry to grow in the Latin American country in the near future, providing users with new and advanced technologies, such as 5G, to stay connected with the rest of our digitalized world.
