Vivo Adds Porto Alegre to Its 4G Footprint

Brazil’s leading mobile operator by subscribers Vivo Participacoes, owned by Telefonica of Spain, has launched 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) services commercially in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul state.

The carrier becomes the second Brazilian cellco to offer 4G on a commercial basis in Porto Alegre, after rival Telecom Americas (Claro) launched there last month. Vivo is already operational with its LTE service in the cities of Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Recife, Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and Salvador, and according to Brazilian news portal Baguete, has also launched 4G commercially in several municipalities in Sao Paulo state. It claimed 29,400 LTE mobile accesses at 30 April 2013, a segment share of around 61%. At the same date Anatel said there were over 50,000 4G subscribers in Brazil, up sharply from the 14,700 figure reported by the watchdog a month before.