Nearly one million 4G LTE accesses were activated in the country during the month, reaching 7.75mn in total. 4G LTE had 2.7% of the market at the end of the month.
January was the second consecutive month 4G LTE net additions hovered around the 1mn mark. In previous months, the technology had been expanding at around half that pace.
Overall, Brazil ended January with 281.7mn active mobile lines, with net additions – new lines minus disconnections – of some 700,000 in January. The total represents 138 lines per 100 inhabitants.
2G connections continue to decrease as smartphone penetration grows, driving up both 3G and 4G.
The country ended January with 108.7mn 2G accesses (GSM and CDMA), 5mn less than at the end of December. Meanwhile, 3G (WCDMA) jumped to 148.9mn accesses, from 144.7mn in December, to account for 52.8% of total lines in service.
Broadband terminals (3G modems and tablets) continued on a downward trend, standing at 6.4mn, or 2.3% of the market, while M2M connections surpassed 9.8mn for a 3.5% share.
At the end of January, pre-paid accesses totaled 213.4mn (75.8% of the total) and post-paid 68.3mn (24.2%).