TIM last week said it added nearly 1,800 3G and 4G LTE sites to spruce up its mobile data focus, as per its Capex (capital spending) plans for Q2 2014.

The number of 3G and 4G sites has increased to 13,100 in Q2 2014 from 11,300 in Q1 2014 and 11,000 in Q4 2013, said TIM during an investor meet.

The company said small cell deployment increased 47 percent between Q4 2013 and Q2 2014.

The number of sites with fiber (FTTS) increased 3.5x between Q2 2013 and Q2 2014.

“We are putting 94 percent of our capital spend into the infrastructure, and the main part of it is 3G. So this means that we are sustaining the tremendous growth in the data traffic,” said Rodrigo Modesto de Abreu, chief executive officer, TIM.

TIM said Capex on telecom infrastructure has resulted into improved market share. TIM has 30.2 million 3G subscribers and its 3G market share rose to 26 percent in Q2 2014 from 24 percent in Q2 2013.

4G subscriber base of TIM reached 990,000 with a 4G market share of 30 percent in Q2 2014 against 20 percent in Q2 2013.

Increased mobile data focus has already reflected in its revenue from data business.

Data Revenues rose 22.2 percent to R$1.58 billion or 27.2 percent of mobile gross service revenues, said TIM.

TIM said its data users grew 24 percent to reach 39 percent of total base, with 3G users increasing 77 percent to 30.2 million.

Postpaid customer base mix grew to 16.5 percent from 15.7 percent.

Live TIM customer base reached ~100k users, adding 20.2k clients in Q2. Addressable households reached ~1.2 million homes.

TIM 4G strategy

“We believe that our strategy to enter the 4G space was a very successful strategy, both from the point of view of how did we invest in infrastructure,” Abreu said.

The company’s 4G rent sharing agreement has enabled TIM to lower its Capex and do more with the same Capex investment when compared to some other operators.

“Without initially trying to create different 4G pricing or premium pricing for 4G, we introduced the new plans with higher data capacity, but that could be used both for 4G and 3G. So there was no 4G specific premium at the very beginning,” Abreu said.

TIM telecom infrastructure

TIM is strengthening its telecom infrastructure, prioritizing the expansion in capacity, coverage and network availability in the coming months.

The telecom operator is aiming to reach 100 cities with fiber-to-the-site in 2014. The fiber reach plan has already generated a significant increase in telecom network quality and connection speed provided by infrastructure.

TIM is also planning coverage expansion plan through a combination of traditional infrastructure and HetNets (Heterogeneous Networks – networks that combine different types of mobile access), including access through Small Cells, WiFi hotspots, FemtoCells and other access types.

“We launched a new model of sustainable coverage developed and patented by TIM, through antennas nicknamed bio-sites, where we will work the network expansion associated with a smaller urban and environmental impact, thus enabling the acceleration of our coverage and network densification plan to serve data service demands,” Abreu said.

Baburajan K
[email protected]