Brazil
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Brazil
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
Vivo wins 5G Download Speed with almost 400 Mbps, after a nearly tenfold speed boost
In the previous report, Claro and TIM jointly won 5G Download Speed. This time around, Vivo overtakes both of its rivals and wins this award outright, with a score of 390.9 Mbps — 113.7 Mbps ahead of third-placed Claro. Our users on all Brazilian networks enjoyed stunning speed boosts since previous reports, thanks to 5G roll-outs in the 3.5 GHz band that started in July 2022 — from 5.4 fold increase since the last report for Claro to a breathtaking near tenfold jump for Vivo.
TIM takes home both Coverage trophies
Thanks to substantial increases in both 5G Availability and 5G Reach, TIM pries both awards out of Claro’s hands and ends up in the top spots. Our 5G users connected to 5G services on TIM’s network 11.4% of the time — an incredible rise of nearly 10 percentage points compared to the previous report. TIM also recorded a stunning sevenfold growth in its 5G Reach score — from 0.5 points in the previous report to 3.4 points on a 10-point scale, this time around. This score means our users were connected to 5G services in more than three out of 10 locations they have visited.
Vivo triumphs in 5G Upload Speed
Similar to 5G Download Speed, Vivo snatches away the 5G Upload Speed award from Claro and TIM, which shared the winners’ podium in the previous report. Vivo claims first place with a score of 34.9 Mbps and a winning margin of 5.7 Mbps over TIM. Claro brings up the rear with users’ average 5G upload speeds clocking in at 28.4 Mbps. Our users on Vivo enjoyed spectacular 3.5-times growth in average 5G upload speeds, of nearly 25 Mbps. Meanwhile, their peers on Claro and TIM experienced smaller, identical increases of 7.6 Mbps each, around a third faster than in the previous report.
All operators rated as Excellent for 5G Video Experience
Vivo dethrones Claro as an outright winner for 5G Video Experience and claims the awards all to itself, with a score of 80.1 points on a 100 point scale. Compared to the previous report, all of Brazil’s operators saw increases in 5G Video Experience scores ranging from 6.1 points for Claro to 16.3 points for Vivo. As a result, they all placed in the highest category of user 5G Video Experience — Excellent (75 and above) which means fast loading times and almost non-existent stalling.
Claro keeps 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience
Previously, Claro was the winner in every 5G category either outright or jointly. While it loses most of its awards to either TIM or Vivo, Claro remains the sole winner of two — 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience. The operator secures them with identical scores of 82.5 points on a 100 scale. All operators’ user experience in Brazil rated as Good in both categories — which was an improvement for TIM and Claro, as they moved a category up for 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience.
5G Experience Awards
Market Overview
5G deployments in the 3.5 GHz band across Brazilian cities have shaken up the awards table in the second 5G Experience Report on Brazil, as operators recorded stunning improvements in their performance scores across the board. Vivo didn’t win any awards in the previous report, but this time it takes home three trophies, in both 5G speed categories and for 5G Video Experience. TIM pulls ahead of Claro in both coverage metrics — 5G Availability and 5G Reach — and wins them outright. Previously, Claro won in all seven categories, either outright or jointly, but this time round it ends with only two trophies under its belt, retaining 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience.
Claro, TIM and Vivo all commenced rolling out 5G Standalone (SA) networks in the 3.5 GHz band in the beginning of July 2022 — starting from the country’s capital, Brasília, followed by a launch in São Paulo. Opensignal has recently analyzed the effect of 5G SA deployments in the 3.5 GHz band on mobile network experience in Brasília and other cities in Brazil, with our data showing substantial improvements in 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed. According to TIM, the new 5G SA network accounts for 10% of data traffic in Brasília and São Paulo. Since the beginning of October ANATEL greenlit all 26 state capitals and the Federal District for 5G Standalone deployments, with the cities receiving approval for coverage gradually, on a rolling basis. One of the key objectives in ANATEL’s recently approved strategic plan is the expansion of 5G SA coverage to 57.67% of Brazil’s population by 2027.
In this report, we examine the 5G experience of our users on the three main mobile network operators in Brazil – Claro, TIM and Vivo – over the period of 90 days between September 1, 2022 and November 29, 2022, to see how they fared. We have also published a companion report — Brazil Mobile Network Experience — which analyzes the overall experience of all our mobile users in Brazil.
5G Experience
National Analysis
Vivo replaces Claro as the outright winner for 5G Video Experience, with a score of 80.1 points on a 100 point scale. Vivo commands a lead of around four points over Claro and TIM which were tied for second place with scores of 75.9-76.2 points. All of Brazil’s operators saw increases in 5G Video Experience scores since the previous report — with Vivo seeing the biggest boost of 16.3 points, TIM of 10.1 points and Claro of 6.1 points. As a result, they all placed in the highest category for 5G Video Experience — Excellent (75 and above) which means fast loading times and almost non-existent stalling. For Claro and TIM, this means a category higher compared to the last report, from Very Good (65-75), while Vivo moved two categories up, from Good (55-65).
Definitions
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
Claro remains the sole winner of the 5G Games Experience award, scoring 82.5 points on a 100 point scale. However, Vivo replaced TIM in second place due to a stunning increase of 13.3 points — much higher than TIM and Claro’s respective increases of 6.9 and 5.1 points. As a result, Claro’s lead dropped from 5.5 points over TIM in the previous report down to 2.2 points over Vivo this time round.
All operators in Brazil were rated as Good (75-85) for 5G Games Experience — which means a category higher for TIM and Vivo compared to the previous report. Most users deemed the experience acceptable and did not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
Vivo saw the highest 5G to overall uplift across all Brazil’s operators in terms of gaming experience, with its 5G Games Experience score 28.5 points higher than its Games Experience score — ahead of Claro (21.6 points) and TIM (18 points).
Definitions
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
National Analysis
Claro defends the 5G Voice App Experience award, with a score of 82.5 points and a winning margin of 1.3 points over second-placed Vivo. The runner-up broke out of a statistical tie, that it had been in with TIM for second place, due to a rise in its score of 2.6 points. This marks the highest improvement across all Brazilian operators, ahead of Claro’s 1.4 points and TIM’s 1.1 points.
Our 5G users on all networks enjoyed a Good (80-87) voice app experience when connected to 5G — a category higher for TIM and Vivo than in the previous report. This rating means many users were satisfied, but some of them experienced minor quality impairments. Compared to the overall Voice App Experience scores (see companion report), Vivo saw the highest improvement of 11.3 points with 5G, followed by Claro’s 8.5 points and TIM’s 6.6 points.
Definitions
5G Voice App Experience quantifies the experience of Opensignal users when using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on an operator’s 5G network. It uses a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. 5G Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
National Analysis
All Brazil’s operator scores for 5G Download Speed exploded over the summer due to 5G roll-outs in the 3.5 GHz band across the cities boosted users’ speeds. Vivo users’ average 5G Download Speed increased by nearly 10 times, which led to the operator overtaking Claro and TIM — the previous joint winners of the award — and winning it with a speed clocking in at nearly 400 Mbps. TIM comes second with a score of 337.7 Mbps — 6.2 times faster than in the previous report — and 53.2 Mbps behind the winner. Compared to its rivals, the previous joint winner Claro observed a smaller — but still very substantial — increase in 5G Download Speed of 5.4 times, the only operator below the 300 Mbps mark this time around.
Comparing 5G Download Speed to the overall Download Speed Experience scores in the Opensignal companion report — our 5G users on Vivo’s network observed 20.8 times faster download speeds when connected to 5G services than the overall network average for all users. TIM was close behind with the 5G uplift — seeing improvement of 18.3 times, while those on Claro’s network observed 12.9 times faster 5G download speeds than the network average.
Definitions
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
National Analysis
Vivo pushes Claro and TIM off the winners’ podium for 5G Upload Speed and wins the award outright with a score of 34.9 Mbps — 5.7 Mbps ahead of TIM and 6.5 Mbps ahead of third-placed Claro.
Our users on Vivo enjoyed a spectacular 3.5-times increase in their average 5G upload speeds, of nearly 25 Mbps compared with the last report. Meanwhile, their peers on Claro and TIM experienced smaller, identical increases of 7.6 Mbps each, 36.4% and 34.9% faster than in the previous report, respectively.
Compared to the overall Upload Speed Experience scores in the Opensignal companion report — Vivo’s 5G Upload Speed score was five times higher, while Claro and TIM’s — 3.7 and 3.9 times, respectively.
Definitions
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Regional Analysis
Looking at operator results in two of Brazil’s biggest cities by population — Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, we observed 10 outright wins and no joint victories across two speed and three experiential metrics. Claro secures five city awards outright, ahead of Vivo’s haul of four awards and TIM’s single victory.
Our Vivo users enjoyed the fastest average 5G download speed in Rio de Janeiro, clocking in at stunning 410 Mbps. Meanwhile, TIM secures its only outright city win across speed and experiential metrics in São Paulo, for 5G Download Speed, with a score of 393.8 Mbps — 30.5 Mbps ahead of Vivo. However, there were different winners for 5G Upload Speed in these cities. Claro comes first in Rio de Janeiro, with a score of 39 Mbps, while Vivo outright wins in São Paulo, with a score of 41.2 Mbps — more than 9 Mbps faster than Claro and TIM, statistically tied for second place.
Looking at experiential metrics — Vivo wins 5G Video Experience in both cities, but at the same time our users there had Excellent (75 or above) video streaming experience on all networks. Similar to the national results, Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience city awards are a clean sweep for Claro. In both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Claro rated as Excellent (85 or above) for 5G Games Experience, meaning the vast majority of users deemed this network experience acceptable and there was no noticeable delay in almost all cases. TIM and Vivo placed in a category below, Good (75-85).
Regional Analysis Summary: Brazil, 5G Experience Report, January 2023
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Coverage
National Analysis
Our 5G users connected to 5G services on TIM’s network 11.4% of the time — an incredible rise of nearly 10 percentage points compared to the previous report. This means our TIM users were connected to 5G services nearly eight times more than they were six months earlier. Due to its boost in 5G signal availability, TIM outshines the previous sole winner Claro and wins the award outright.
Claro and Vivo were in a statistical tie for second place with scores around 6.8%. However, Vivo enjoyed a more substantial increase in its 5G Availability score — 5.3 percentage points — than Claro’s rise of 1.5 percentage points. Our Vivo 5G users connected to 5G services four times more often than six months earlier, while those on Claro’s network — around a third more.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
National Analysis
Claro won 5G Reach outright in the previous report. However, due to TIM’s score increasing by around seven times, from 0.5 points in the previous report to 3.4 points, on a 10 point scale, TIM is now the sole winner of this award. This score means our TIM users connected to 5G services in more than three out of 10 locations they visited.
Claro and Vivo share second place with identical scores of 2.3 points — but Vivo observed a higher rise in its score than Claro — 1.7 and one point, respectively. This means a fourfold increase for Vivo and an 85.2% rise for Claro, compared to the previous report.
Definitions
5G Reach measures how users experience the geographical extent of an operator’s 5G network. It analyzes the average proportion of locations where users were connected to a 5G network out of all the locations those users have visited. In simple terms, 5G Reach measures the 5G mobile experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users – i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. 5G Reach for each operator is measured on a scale from 0 to 10.
Regional Analysis
TIM claims 5G Availability and 5G Reach city awards in both Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Our TIM 5G users in Rio de Janeiro connected to 5G services for 23.6% of the time — nearly twice as much as those on Vivo’s network and over three times more compared to their Claro peers. As for 5G Reach, our TIM users were connected to 5G services in more than five out of 10 locations they have visited in both cities — around two points ahead of statistically tied Claro and Vivo on a 10 point scale.
Regional Analysis Summary: Brazil, 5G Experience Report, January 2023
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- Rio de Janeiro
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Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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Confidence Intervals
For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience