Updates for Brazil - general

[ranerio]

Hi, this is a nice website. I came across looking for 3G prepaid data plans to use on my trip in May/June to Italy/Switzerland/Finland. Found for both Italy and Finland via this site.

As I am from Brazil I checked the info on Brazil and an update is necessary. Lots of things have changed around here.

General:

• Oi has acquired Brazil Telecom. Now Oi covers the states: Rio de Janeiro, Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, Piauí, Maranhão, Pará, Amazonas, Amapá, Roraima, Brasília (Distrito Federal), Acre, Goiás, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Rondônia, Santa Catarina and Tocantins.
  
• VIVO is missing from the list. It is a large telecom company, mainly in Sao Paulo state and it provides prepaid plans.
  
• Vivo has acquired Telemig Celular.
  
• CTBC - Regional operator is missing.
  
• Oi has acquired Amazonia Celular.
  
• Claro now covers Minas Gerais.
  

It is very easy now to buy prepaid SIM cards, they are available, mostly from OI, at newsstands and many other places. There is no need to present a CPF , however in the first call the call is intercepted and the user must key in a CPF. That part on how difficult is to buy prepaid SIMs in Brazil can be removed.


All mobile operators now offer WCDMA/3G services. The frequencies for each company/state are available here.3G no Brasil | Mosquito Eletrônico . To make a long story short it can be abbreviated as

• OI /Brasil Telecom - 2100 MHz
• Claro - 850/2100 MHz
• TIM - 850/2100 MHz
• Vivo - 2100 MHz
• CTBC - 850 MHz
• Sercomtel - 850 MHz