Brazil's Feb Mobile Phone Ownership Rises 0.27% On Month
March 20 2009 - 12:25PM
Dow Jones News
The number of mobile phones in circulation in Brazil totaled
152.36 million at the end of February, up 0.27% from January,
according to preliminary figures released Friday by
telecommunications regulator Anatel.
Net additions in the month were 415,909.
Vivo Participacoes (VIV) led the Brazilian mobile-phone market
with a 29.8% share of subscriptions in February, according to
Anatel. Vivo is jointly owned by Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF) and
Portugal Telecom (PT).
Claro, the local unit of Mexico's America Movil SA (AMX), was in
the second position with a 25.84% share last month, while TIM
Participacoes (TSU) was in third place with 23.45%. TIM is the
local unit of Telecom Italia SpA (TI).
The fourth-placed mobile-phone operator in February was the
mobile operator of Brazil's largest telecom company, Oi (TNE), with
a market share of 16.60%.
Anatel didn't unveil the market share of companies in the
previous month.
-By Rogerio Jelmayer, Dow Jones Newswires; 5511 2847-4521;
rogerio.jelmayer@dowjones.com