- After quarantines started, operators reported an increase in demand for fixed broadband service, which were already growing;
- Middle-sized and even small cities are also adopting faster connections.
Ultra-broadband connections tend to become the norm in Brazil by the end of the year, even amidst the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic, reports Valor Econômico. Data from the National Telecommunications Agency (Anatel) indicate that in March Internet accesses with speeds exceeding 34 megabits per second (Mbps) represented 45.8% of existing connections in the country. A year earlier, in March 2019, the rate was 29%.
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Middle-sized and even small cities are adopting faster connections. Also according to Valor, consultancy Bain & Company estimates that in February 21% of fixed broadband connections in Brazilian municipalities with up to 60,000 inhabitants had speeds above 34 Mbps. In municipalities with a population in the range of 60,000 to 150,000, this proportion was 37%.
In a recently released report, investment bank BTG Pactual pointed out that “after the quarantine started, operators reported an increase in demand for the [fixed broadband] service, whether for new connections or for higher speeds.”
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The increase in faster broadband access is driven by the accelerated expansion of fiber optic networks. At the end of the first quarter of 2020, more than a third of the country’s 32.9 million fixed broadband accesses were based on fiber.
