Brazil's broadband performance shows slight improvement

The overall quality of broadband delivered by Brazil service providers improved slightly between January and March, according to the latest round of fixed and mobile broadband measurements carried out by telecoms watchdog Anatel.

The results for January, February and March show a gradual, month-by-month improvement in services provided by the major fixed and mobile operators nationwide, particularly since January.

However operators continue to fail to reach the minimum quality goals set by Anatel, particularly in the northern and northeastern states. The southeastern and southern regions, on the other hand, show higher quality indicators.

To measure fixed broadband, six items are assessed by Anatel: instantaneous speed, average (monthly) speed, latency, jitter (latency variation), package loss and network availability.

Measurements were carried out in all states with the exception of Amapá.

As for mobile broadband, the areas measured are instantaneous speed and average (monthly) speed. All states were evaluated.

RESULTS

Of the four major carriers, TIM(NYSE: TSU) was the worst performing operator in terms of meeting mobile broadband goals.

In January, TIM failed to reach at least one of two quality goals in 17 states. The company was followed by Oi, which missed the targets in 11 states, Vivo (eight states) and Claro (four states).

TIM's performance declined further in February, failing to reach goals in 21 states. Oi missed them in 15 states, Vivo in 12 goals and Claro in three.

In March, TIM missed quality targets in 19 states, followed by Oi (14 states), Vivo (10) and Claro (two).

In fixed broadband, Oi had the worst indicators for the quarter. In January, Oi fell short of at least one of the goals in 23 states, while NET did not meet quality targets in four states and GVT in two.

In February, Oi missed goals in 21 states, while NET was under par in 11 and GVT in four. In March, Oi missed targets in 20 states, NET in six and GVT in six.

GVT, controlled by French media group Vivendi, kept its crown with the fastest average speeds in fixed broadband in most of the states in which it was evaluated.