Great mobile experience is cause for celebration during Carnival in Rio de Janeiro

Carnival is one of the world's largest and most iconic festivals, celebrated in various forms across dozens of countries. Rio de Janeiro is recognised for hosting the largest of these celebrations, drawing millions of revelers and tens of thousands of tourists annually. With this vibrant mix of performers and attendees dancing the night away, can Rio’s mobile networks keep up?

In this report, we analyze how user experience on Brazil’s three national mobile network operators (MNOs) — Claro, TIM, and Vivo — shifts during Carnival. Using data from the 2024 festival week, we assess which operator delivered the best performance in Rio de Janeiro. Additionally, we compare these results to a period four weeks before the event to evaluate the impact of network congestion caused by the influx of festivalgoers.

Key findings:

• During last year’s Carnival, TIM had the best overall experience in Rio de Janeiro. TIM was the outright leader in four of the six analyzed metrics — Reliability Experience, Consistent Quality, Video Experience and Live Video Experience. Additionally, TIM shared Coverage Experience with Claro.
• Claro had the fastest average download speeds during Carnival. Claro delivered the fastest average download speeds, both overall and over 5G networks — with Claro’s average 5G download speeds approaching 400Mbps.
• Across Rio, our TIM 5G users connected to 5G in the most places. TIM had the best 5G Coverage Experience during the festival, scoring 8.23 points on a 10-point scale. Additionally, our TIM users had the joint best experience streaming video over a 5G connection, shared with Claro.
• All three networks were resilient during Carnival, with average 5G download speeds increasing across the board. Compared to four weeks prior, Consistent Quality increased during Carnival for both Claro and Vivo — TIM remained stable — while Reliability Experience dropped slightly.

Brazilian operators have made significant investments to enhance their networks. Operators allocated R$1.5 billion to improve networks ahead of the 2016 Rio Olympics, with most of the upgrades remaining as permanent fixtures. More recently, América Móvil, Claro’s parent company, announced a US$7.7 billion investment into Claro Brazil between 2024-2029 — critical for staying competitive with Vivo, which received nearly in US$2 billion in 2023, and TIM, which invests close to US$1 billion annually. These investments are necessary to help not only local users, but also the burgeoning tourism sector. With a large number of Rio’s residents depending on the spending during Carnival and tourism income, a smooth mobile performance is vital to draw in the crowds.

From the Sambadrome to the iconic blocos and bandas, Rio comes alive during Carnival, with the mobile networks just as busy as the streets — handling the surge in shared photos, videos and calls. TIM reported that at the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí around 40 terabytes of data were shared over its network, with over 47% on its 5G network during the two nights of parades last year. Despite the increased demand, network upgrades and preparations ensured smooth performance throughout the festivities. While all the operators delivered strong results, TIM stood out, ranking first in four of the six analyzed metrics and sharing the top spot for one.

TIM’s outright leads mean that its users were able to rely on its network the most for common tasks like video calling and social media uploads, while also enjoying the highest quality streamed video, whether live or on-demand. Claro and TIM shared the win for Coverage Experience, with near comprehensive coverage of the city. Coverage Experience represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage. Additionally, Claro had the fastest average download speeds around Rio, 2Mbps ahead of its peers. These scores are all higher than those seen nationally shortly before Carnival — however, scores are rapidly improving across the country, especially Consistent Quality.

Claro, TIM, and Vivo users saw a noticeable boost in performance when comparing users’ 5G experience to their overall mobile experience, however, a great 5G experience is only possible if users can reliably find a 5G connection. In Rio, TIM was first for 5G Coverage Experience, scoring 8.23 points on a 10-point scale, and demonstrating widespread coverage. Claro was not far behind TIM, trailing by just 0.2 points. This metric reflects the proportion of places Opensignal users with a 5G-capable device and subscription were able to connect to 5G.

During Carnival, our TIM and Claro users observed the best 5G video streaming experience, both on-demand and for live events. The pair’s 5G Video Experience scores were around 15-20 points higher than their overall scores, putting them at the top end of the Very Good (68-78) category. Similarly, for 5G Live Video Experience TIM’s and Claro’s scores elevated them to the Excellent (58 or above) category, with users, on average, able to stream video at least at 1080p with low loading times, little stalling and a satisfactory live offset when connected to 5G. With the multitude of videos being shared of the parades and the Sambadrome, a clear picture is vital to capture the vibrancy.

5G Download speeds clearly highlight the impact of 5G deployments in the 3.5GHz band, with the average 5G download speeds for the three MNOs exceeding their overall scores by more than 300Mbps — more than a tenfold increase. While all three operators achieved impressive speeds, Claro stands out, approaching 400Mbps and setting a high benchmark for performance. As Claro was also first for Download Speed Experience, this means that our users had the fastest average download speeds during Carnival in Rio on Claro’s network. Just like with video streaming, lightning-fast download speeds enhance the Carnival experience, allowing attendees to seamlessly share moments, stream content, and stay connected throughout the festivities.

All three operators’ networks were remarkably resilient to the influx of revellers, with user experience during Carnival being similar to what was seen four weeks earlier. Consistent Quality increased for both Claro and Vivo, the latter’s score rising over nine percentage points. TIM’s score did not change by a large amount, remaining ahead of its peers’ at 74.6%. Similarly our Rio de Janeiro users saw their average 5G download speeds increase across all three carriers, with Vivo again seeing the largest increase — of 16Mbps. This increase hints at how operators can deal with a change in user habits during Carnival. With users congregating in relatively small areas, operators can plan ahead, setting up permanent or temporary cell towers in these locations and ensuring the higher capacity 5G spectrum is allocated, as TIM did for 2024’s Rock in Rio event. However, Reliability Experience — Opensignal’s measure of the ability of users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks — fell for all three MNOs during the Carnival period. This is likely due to users having a slightly harder time connecting to a network during the festivities.

As Brazil prepares for the 2025 Carnival, the country's three national MNOs are well-equipped to handle the event’s demands. In Rio, Claro, TIM, and Vivo demonstrated strong network performance during last year’s Carnival, with user experience resilient to the increased demand. Opensignal has observed networks holding up under pressure for other major events, including the Olympics in France, the Hajj in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Australia, Japan and Singapore.

To learn about the national experience of our Brazilian users in more depth, please read our most recent mobile network experience report. To stay updated on all Opensignal insights and articles, sign up for our newsletter.