By Rogerio Jelmayer
SAO PAULO--Brazil's mobile-phone subscriptions rose in January
despite the country's sluggish economy.
Total mobile-phone users in the country reached 281.7 million in
January, up from 280.73 million in December.
Beneficiaries of the growth in mobile-phone subscriptions
include Telefonica Brasil SA (VIV, VIVT4.BR), also known as Vivo,
part of Spain's Telefonica SA (TEF, TEF.MC), and TIM Participacoes
S/A (TSU, TIMP3.BR).
Vivo posted a market share of 28.65% in January, up from 28.47%
in December, while TIM was second with 26.90% in January, down from
26.97% at the end of 2014. TIM is the local unit of Telecom Italia
SpA (TI, TIT.MI).
Claro, the local unit of Mexico's America Movil SAB de CV (AMX,
AMOV, AMX.MX), came in third with a 25.34% share compared with
25.33% in the prior year. Local telecommunications company Oi SA
(OIBR, OIBR4.BR) remained in fourth place with a 17.98% share, down
from 18.14% in December.
The sector's smaller players Algar and Nextel ended the year
with market shares of 0.43% and 0.57%, respectively, compared with
0.43% and 0.54% in December.
Write to Rogerio Jelmayer at rogerio.jelmayer@wsj.com
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