By Rogerio Jelmayer
SAO PAULO--Brazil's mobile-phone subscriptions grew at a lower
pace in February compared with the month before, as the market
leaders showed mixed signs in the period.
A total of 856,000 new subscribers signed up in February, down
from 970,000 in the month before. Total mobile-phone users in
Brazil rose to 282.56 million, up 0.3% from January, government
agency Anatel said.
In the 12-month period ended in February, the number of
subscriptions increased 3.61%.
Beneficiaries of the growth in mobile-phone subscriptions
include Telefonica Brasil SA (VIVT4.BR, VIV), also known as Vivo,
which is part of Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC); and Claro,
the local unit of Mexico's America Movil SAB de CV (AMX,
AMX.MX).
On the other hand, TIM Participacoes S/A (TSU, TIMP3.BR, a unit
of Telecom Italia SpA (TI, TIT.MI); and Brazilian telecommunication
company Oi SA (OIBR, OIBR4.BR) lost ground.
Vivo posted a market share of 28.75% in February, up from 28.65%
in January, while TIM was second with 26.84% in February, down from
26.9%.
Claro came in third with a 25.4% share, compared with 25.34% in
the prior month. Oi remained in fourth place with a 17.84% share,
down from 17.98% in January,
The sector's smaller players Nextel and Algar ended February
with market shares of 0.6% and 0.44%, respectively, compared with
0.57% and 0.43% in January.
Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@wsj.com
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