The Brazilian telecommunications market concluded June 2026 with significant movements in the battle for customers. According to Anatel information, both major national operators and Starlink were responsible for acquiring new fixed internet subscribers, while smaller providers registered declines.
The report also provided details on the increase in available speed in the country and the progression of 5G implementation in mobile telephony. In the first half of the year, Brazil accumulated 56.6 million active fixed broadband accesses, with fiber optics accounting for the majority, at 80.4% of connections. The average speed contracted by Brazilian users rose to 520.98 Mb/s.
A notable piece of data presented by the regulatory agency is that the state of Amapá holds the highest average internet speed in the country, reaching 737.40 Mb/s, disproving the idea that the Southeast would be the leader in this regard.
Reasons for customer loss by regional providers in June
The decline observed among local providers reflects the intensified competitive scenario. Companies operating in geographical niches face greater challenges in retaining their clientele against the aggressive proposals of large telcos. These latter often offer bundled packages combining fixed internet, mobile telephony, and streaming services in very attractive offers.
This retraction impacted brands like Algar, which reported a drop of 2 thousand customers, ending with 837.1 thousand accesses. Desktop, which has a strong presence in São Paulo and is in the process of being acquired by Claro, also had a negative month, losing 1 thousand subscribers and closing the period with 1.19 million contracts.
Among regional companies, few managed to maintain stability or show growth, with modest results. Brasil TecPar and Unifique each added 2 thousand customers, while Brisanet gained only 1 thousand new subscribers.
Progress of Vivo, Starlink, and Claro
Claro consolidated itself as the undisputed leader in the Brazilian market, registering 21 thousand new subscribers and maintaining the first position with a total of 10.8 million active connections. Vivo, meanwhile, obtained 57 thousand new fixed internet customers, securing the second national position, totaling 8.4 million accesses.
Starlink, the satellite connectivity provider belonging to SpaceX, continued its expansion pace, raising its share in the broadband market to 1.5%. Its growth has been notably strong in rural areas where fiber optic coverage has not yet reached. Official Anatel records indicate 836,847 subscribers in Brazil, a number lower than the volume disclosed by Elon Musk's company, which claims to have over 1 million customers in the national territory.
Nio's Recovery and TIM
Another highlight in June was the performance of Nio, the operator that took over the former Oi Fibra. After months of user loss, the brand managed to reverse this trend, attracting 9 thousand new subscribers and achieving its third consecutive month of growth. This result positions the company with the third largest broadband base in the country, totaling 3.25 million accesses.
TIM, for its part, activated 5 thousand fixed internet accesses, concluding June with 906.4 thousand contracts.
5G on the rise and virtual operators
Data compiled by Anatel also highlighted transformations in the mobile telephony area. 5G maintained an accelerated adoption trajectory, rising to 24.2% of the share of mobile accesses in Brazil. This percentage is even more relevant when considering only mobile devices, excluding machine-to-machine (M2M) connections, at which point the fifth generation network represents 30.5% of accesses.
Additionally, the report analyzed mobile operators that use virtual networks, meaning companies that rent the infrastructure of large operators to market their own plans. Nucel dominates this segment and is the only one to exceed the one million mark, registering 1,063,914 active lines. Correios Celular holds the third position, with 936,633 customers.
