Snapshot: Brazil's 5G antennas race

In the first full year with 5G, 7,319 antennas tailored to the technology are operating in Brazil.

The 5G spectrum auction concluded over a year ago while prime 5G started operating some five months ago in Brasília.

5G antennas correspond to around 9% of total mobile sites in service in the country, according to data by regulator Anatel.

TIM leads with 3,504 5G antennas, followed by Claro (1,940) and Telefônica Brasil (1,827). Algar and Brisanet have 46 and two 5G antennas in operation.

After the acquisition of Oi, TIM achieved the largest mobile coverage in Brazil considering all technologies and is reaching all locations, TIM CEO Alberto Griselli said at a recent event with journalists.

Late in November, TIM announced a contract to use V.tal’s fiber network to, among other things, connect around 2,500 5G sites with fiber in a first phase.

All operators licensed to offer 5G in the 3.5GHz frequency achieved greater coverage than Anatel requires for this phase. This month, Anatel announced that 15 more localities were cleared to receive 3.5GHz 5G.

According to Anatel, of all 5G antennas deployed to date, 6,498 are in the 3.5GHz frequency: 3,475 by TIM, 1,766 by Telefônica Brasil and 1,257 by Claro.

Another 728 are in the 2.3GHz frequency, also awarded in the November 2021 auction: 489 by Claro, 188 by Telefônica Brasil, 46 by Algar, three by TIM and two by Brisanet.

In the 700MHz band, Anatel lists another 3,196 antennas: 2,937 by TIM, 256 by Telefônica Brasil and three by Claro. 

The figures do not add up to the 5G total because other blocks in the 700MHz spectrum band had also been auctioned for 4G technology.

CORE 5G

Of the total 5G sites, only 193 correspond to standalone 5G, or 5G SA, while 630 correspond to the non-standalone version. The rest is listed by Anatel as running both SA and non-standalone 5G (5G NSA).

5G NSA uses part of the infrastructure, especially the network core, from 4G. This ensures faster expansion than SA, since the infrastructure already exists. However, performance is different, notably regarding latency.

DISTRIBUTION

The states of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro together account for more than half of total 5G antennas to date, with São Paulo concentrating 2,455 and Rio de Janeiro 1,355, followed by Brasília federal district with 554, Minas Gerais with 358 and Paraná with 331.

According to telcos association Conexis Brasil Digital, the country had 88,794 antennas deployed nationwide as of November, some 40 fewer than reported by Anatel, and 22.3% of which in São Paulo, the country's most populous state.

The total number of antennas licensed in Brazil (not necessarily deployed) is 91,507, according to Anatel.

Considering all technologies, Telefônica Brasil leads in the deployed category (33,534 as per Anatel), followed by TIM (30,967), Claro (23,537), Algar (737), Sercomtel (48), Ligue (12) and Brisanet (2).

The number of antennas does not reflect the number of users. The mobile market is led by Telefônica Brasil, with 97.6mn accesses, followed by Claro (86.7mn) and TIM (68.6mn).

As a result, TIM has a better ratio of users per antenna, with 2,215 accesses per site, compared to Telefônica Brasil’s 2,900 and Claro’s 3,683. Performance might suffer if more devices are connected to one antenna due to congestion.