Brazil, Fixed Broadband Experience, October 2023

In this report — Opensignal's first analysis of the fixed broadband experience in Brazil, we have examined real-world data from our users across the country and in two of its biggest cities: São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. We look at four key measures of the broadband user experience: Broadband Consistent Quality, Broadband Download Speed, Broadband Peak Download Speed, and Broadband Upload Speed. The Brazilian fixed broadband market is very fragmented, according to the ANATEL market share data, as many regional ISPs have strong positions in their areas of operations but are less prevalent nationally. Due to this, Opensignal has only included fixed broadband providers that Anatel describes as large, where they had a substantial market share.

Key findings:

• TIM has the most consistent network in Brazil, as the provider leads on Broadband Consistent Quality. It scores the highest in terms of the proportion of our users’ tests that pass — 68.4%. TIM also leads on this metric in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, with scores of 70.7% and 70.9%, respectively.
   
• Vivo, Claro, and Oi jointly have the highest scores for Broadband Download Speed nationally, ranging from 87.3 to 88.8Mbps. Vivo takes the top spot solely for the fastest download speeds in São Paulo and jointly with Claro in Rio de Janeiro.

• Claro soars in the Broadband Peak Download Speed category as it scoops first place nationally and in São Paulo with results of 464.4Mbps and 481.6Mbps, respectively. In Rio de Janeiro, it shares the top spot with TIM with speeds of 459-461.1Mbps.

• Oi comes first nationwide for Broadband Upload Speed with a score of 63.1Mbps. However, Vivo has the highest score for Broadband Upload Speed in São Paulo and shares the top spot with Oi and TIM in Rio de Janeiro.

National broadband experience

Broadband Consistent Quality measures how often users’ experience on a network is sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. Nationally, TIM wins Broadband Consistent Quality outright, with a score of 68.4% — which means 68.4% of users’ tests on this network meet the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls, and play games. TIM beats Oi by 2.7 percentage points and Claro by 4.2 percentage points, while Vivo brings up the rear with a score of 62%. 

Vivo, Claro, and Oi jointly take the top spot for Broadband Download Speed in Brazil, with scores of 87.3-88.8Mbps. 

Claro users observe the fastest Broadband Peak Download Speed in Brazil, clocking in at 464.4Mbps — 45.2Mbps ahead of second-placed TIM, which scores 419.3Mbps. Vivo and Oi come third, with statistically tied scores in the 397.9-398.5Mbps range,

Oi triumphs for Broadband Upload Speed with a score of 63.1Mbps — beating Vivo and TIM by around 16.8Mbps, as both providers take second place with identical scores of 46.3Mbps.

Broadband experience across cities

Rio de Janeiro

TIM has the highest score for average Broadband Consistent Quality in Rio de Janeiro — 70.7%. Claro, Vivo and Oi are statistically tied for second place, with scores of 65.5-66.4% — around 4.8 percentage points behind TIM.

Claro and Vivo have jointly the highest scores for Broadband Download Speed in Rio de Janeiro, of 95-101.6Mbps.
 

Claro and TIM tie for the top spot for Broadband Peak Download Speed in Rio de Janeiro, with scores of 459-461.1Mbps. Vivo and Oi jointly come third with scores of 359.3-361.3Mbps — around 100Mbps lower than the peak broadband download speed our Claro and TIM users experience.

Oi, TIM and Vivo jointly come first for Broadband Upload Speed, with scores of 42-53Mbps. Claro trails behind with a score of 26.8Mbps.

São Paulo

Our users in São Paulo enjoy the most consistent quality of broadband experience on TIM’s network. The provider comes first for Broadband Consistent Quality with a score of 70.9% — beating Claro by 3.3 percentage points and Vivo by 8.3 percentage points. 

According to Opensignal measurements, Vivo has the fastest Broadband Download Speed in São Paulo, clocking in at 102.4Mbps — 11.4% faster than Claro’s score of 91.9Mbps and 38.4% faster than TIM’s score of 74Mbps.

Claro leads for Broadband Peak Download Speed in São Paulo, with a score of 481.6Mbps. It beats Vivo and TIM, with their statistically tied peak speed of 401.2-425.1Mbps, by around 68.5Mbps.

On top of having the sole highest score for Broadband Download Speed in São Paulo, Vivo also takes the top spot for Broadband Upload Speed across the city, as our users on this network enjoy average upload speeds of 54.1Mbps. TIM comes second, 7.3Mbps behind the leader, and Claro brings up the rear with a score of 28.7Mbps.
 

Methodology and definitions:

Opensignal references consumer-facing brand names in the reports, however, it is important to note that the ownership and operation of broadband infrastructure may be attributed to different corporate entities. We have included a table below that outlines the parent infrastructure companies associated with the consumer-facing broadband provider names.

Tariff characteristics — for example, speed tiers or data caps — vary greatly by provider and the dispersion of the plan mix will affect the average experience result. Opensignal’s measurements capture users’ experience, regardless of the plan that they have purchased from their provider. This report analyzes the real-world situation across all users’ plans. 

Opensignal also captures user measurements across all broadband network architectures, encompassing fiber (FTTx), xDSL, cable, fixed wireless access (FWA) via 4G and 5G, as well as satellite, and reports on a holistic evaluation of our users’ experience with the listed providers' internet services.

Broadband Consistent Quality    
Measures how often users’ experience on a network was sufficient to support common applications’ requirements. Broadband Consistent Quality uses six key performance indicators, including download and upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss and time to first byte. Metrics are represented as a percentage of users’ tests that have met the minimum recommended performance thresholds to watch HD video, complete group video conference calls and play games. Consistent quality is measured across all users at all hours of the day.

Broadband Download Speed    
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Download Speed represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across a provider’s network.

Broadband Peak Download Speed    
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Peak Download Speed represents the 98th percentile of the user speed distribution. i.e. this is what the users with the highest speeds within the footprint experience.

Broadband Upload Speed    
Measured in Mbps, Broadband Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds for each internet service provider observed by our users across their fixed networks. Typically, upload speeds are slower than download speeds, but this often depends on the technology used for broadband connections.