GSM Breaks New Ground In Brazil

19 January 2006

More than half of Brazil's mobile phone users are connected to GSM networks

19th January 2006 - London - Just three and a half years after it first arrived in Brazil, GSM is now used by more than 50% of Brazilian mobile phone users. Of the 86 million people with mobile phones in Latin America's largest country, more than 44 million are connected to GSM networks, according to the Brazilian regulator Anatel.

The popularity of GSM in Brazil and other developing countries underlines the huge economies of scale enjoyed by the GSM industry, which now serves more than 1.6 billion people worldwide. By spreading the cost of developing new handsets and services across this vast user base, the GSM industry has made mobile phones affordable for many ordinary Brazilians.

"The rapid growth in mobile usage in Brazil reflects the great strides made by the GSM industry in bringing down the cost of handsets and services," said Rob Conway, chief executive of the GSM Association, which represents 679 GSM mobile phone operators worldwide. "However, the Brazilian people and the Brazilian economy could derive greater benefits from cellular communications if the federal and state governments were to revise their taxes on mobile phone usage, which are among the highest in the developing world."

A recent study by the GSMA found that taxes in Brazil represent almost 30% of the cost of using the service. Average minutes of use in Brazil are low at 91 minutes per month per user compared with an average of 234 minutes worldwide, according to Wireless Intelligence, a joint venture between the GSMA and research firm Ovum.