brazil it infrastructure

American Travel Plans to Sao, Paulo, Brazil

By: Ian Bazilio

CIT 49900

CDMA vs GSM

• In the US CDMA and GSM phones.

• US carriers

– Sprint (CDMA)

– Verizon(CDMA)

– T-Mobile (GSM)

– AT&T (GSM)

• In Brazil GSM phones are the only phones used.

• Brazil carriers

• TIM

• Claro

• Vivo

• Oi

National Broadband Plan

• Brazil is the richest Latin American country

– Broadband penetration is very weak in places away from large cities

– Most users still use dial-up

• Resident may go anywhere from one daywithout internet access to weeks withoutinternet access

• Brazil is trying to give internet users access to high speed at lower costs.


• This plan would make use of the fiber network already in place belonging to the state ownedcompany: Eletronet

• Cost would be about R$25-35 ($14-20 US) a month

• The would mean Internet providers wouldcharge about R$50 monthly for unlimitedservices


• Currently in Brazil there are over 1000 internet service providers

• Ther are milliones of internet users

• The Prime Minister and President are currently working together to try to reducethe cost of broadband services.

• They plan to have 90 million broadbandconnections by 2014

Conversion Rate

• The Brazilian currency is called Real

• At the current time the conversion rate is:

– $1US to R$1.76

• The conversion rate is subject to change depending on the economy rate

GSM

• GSM phones dominate the world market.

• Removable SIM card allows phones to be instantly

– activated

– interchanged

– swapped out

– upgraded

all without carrier intervention

GSM Frequencies

• GSM phones operate on 4 different frequencies

– 850 MHz (North America/Latin America)

– 900 MHz (Europe/Asia)

– 1800 MHz (Europe/Asia)

– 1900 MHz (North America/Latin America)

• This makes GSM phone able to work worldwide.

Documents Needed

• This is a list of the documents you wouldneed for a ‘pay-as-you-go’ plan

• Proof of Identity: Brazilian nation ID (RG); Brazilian Driving License; Professional License(doctor’s license etc…)

• Individual taxpayer’s number (CPF)

• Proof of Residence: Utility bill relating to the area in which the cell phone will be used

Documents Needed

• This is a list of the documents you would need for a ‘pay-monthly’ plan

• Proof of Identity: Brazilian nation ID (RG); Brazilian Driving License; Professional License(doctor’s license etc…)

• Individual taxpayer’s number (CPF)

• Proof of Residence: Utility bill relating to the area in which the cell phone will be used

• Proof of payment of their current property tax

• Copy of lease contract showing proof of residence for at least 12 months(for individuals renting property)

• Vehicle ownership and Licensing documents

• Pay slip and/or pension plan for the current month

• Current cable TV bill

• Letter of confirmation of current residence from a hotel or flat service (for applicants without a permanent housing location)

TIM

• Domestic Calls using TIM• Call Type Call Rate Outgoing local calls (Sao Paulo) * 1.19 R ($0.71 USD)

per minute

• Incoming calls while in Sao Paulo FREE Outgoing long distance calls from Sao Paulo to all other cities* 1.69 R ($1.01 USD) per minute Outgoing calls from all other cities (National Roaming) 0.50 R ($0.30 USD)per call +1.19 R ($0.71 USD) per minute Incoming calls when not in Sao Paulo(National Roaming) 0.50 R ($0.30 USD) per call SMS 0.25 R ($0.15 USD)per message

• When in Sao Paulo, you can get a TIM phone for about R$115 with the SIM included.

Oi

• The Oi site were very difficult for me to translate through.

• The plans with this phone are very diverse.

• One of the pre-paid plans runs about $60/month US.

• Calling from Oi to Oi or Oi to a house phone costs R$1,36/min

– This is the same to other cell phones as long as the area code (DDD) is the same

• Roaming rates are R$1,39/min

• Text Messeging is R$0,49

• Internet Access is R$0,008

Vivo

• Vivo users can text vivo to get temporary month long promotions.

• If you re-charge R$12 on a pre-pay vivo phone you win R$200 of free credits to use within 2 weeks

• Up to $180 can be used for other Vivo phones

• Up to $20 can be used to call either vivo phones or house phones

• This can be done up to 5 times meaning you can win up to $1000 worth of free credit to use with the Vivo option.

• Vivo sounds like the best option to take for someone justvisition Sao Paulo.

Internet Service Provider

• Universo on Line (UOL)

– The biggest portal in Portuguese language

– Users have access to most Brazilian magazines on-line

• AOL

– Even though the marketing is very big, AOL is far fromhaving a dominant role in Brazil

• Terra

– Owns an internet portal, accused of unfair access becauseit is partnered with a large phone company in Sao Paulo.

ISP

• Competition between ISPs are very competitive.

• Currently to get unlimited dial-up the cost is at R$30.

• To get unlimited Broadband access would cost about R$80 per month including the cost to rent the modem.

ISP

• The top Internet Service Provider’s in the US are:

– SBC(AT&T)

– Comcast

– Road Runner

– Verizon

Television

• Due to a high illiteracy rate, TV is mainly used for politicalmessages

• Cable and Satellite TV are both by subscription like in the US.

• The five major networks for cable are:

– Band

– RedeTv

– Globo

– RedeRecord

– SBT

Satellite Television

• Satellite television is not widely available in Brazil

• The four major providers of satellite tv are:

– Net

– Sky

– TVR

– Globo SAT

• Many subscribers choose to receive their telephone, cable and Internet from one provider to keep costs down.

Satellite TV

• In order to get satellite TV you need to have the following documentation:

– Passport or Foreign Identification Number

– An Individual taxpayer’s number

– A Brazilian bank account with a direct debitfunction

• After that is established the installer will set up a monthly direct debit from the subscriber’s bankaccount to make sure that they get their money.

Social Networking in Brazil

• Facebook and Myspace are not very big at all.

• In Brazil more than 3/4ths of the population uses Orkut.

• I created an account on there to get a feel for it but my lack of portuguese knowledge and understandingmakes it hard to navigate.

• The site can be found at Orkut.com (it is throughgoogle)

References

• The links used to gather information for thispresentation can be found through mylifestream and on friendfeed.com.