NIC.br launches study on broadband quality in Brazil

Unprecedented analysis of data collected by Simet is among the publication's highlights

The quality of the Internet connection delivered in different Brazilian regions and states, as well as the supply, demand, and cost of connectivity in the country, are topics of the book "Broadband in Brazil: a study on the evolution of access and quality of Internet connections", launched this Thursday (28) by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br) through the Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society (Cetic.br) and the Center for Study and Research on Network Technology and Operations (Ceptro.br), both part of the Brazilian Network Information Center (NIC.br). The publication was presented today (28/6) during the "4th Interministerial Meeting - Dialogue on public policies and ICT Indicators," held by the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC), in Brasília (DF).

The new volume of the "NIC.br Notebooks - Sectoral Studies" series provides an analysis of data collected through the Internet Traffic Measurement System (Simet) and various surveys conducted by Cetic.br over a four-year period (2013 to 2016), providing insights into the situation of broadband quality in the country.

This is the first NIC.br study that uses Big Data sources based on information generated by users who made measurements through Simet. "The use of alternative data sources, such as Big Data, represents a methodological innovation of high relevance and is aligned with the monitoring of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda Sustainable Development Goals. Statistical agencies worldwide have been striving to ensure access to these bases and to assess their use as a relevant source of information for constructing social and economic indicators of public interest," highlights Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.

Simet Results

The unprecedented results of Simet are presented in the publication through a comparison between regions of the country and also the performance of 13 federation units: those with the highest volume of measurement records recorded between 2013 and 2016, which are also the units with the largest population contingent. "It is essential to remember that Simet conducts quality measurements directly on broadband connections from NIC.br's infrastructure, in a completely independent manner, triggered by the user. All tests carried out follow a path from the tested network to a neutral point, without third-party networks interfering with the measurements. In this way, data produced by Simet products provide relevant information to support decisions on the continuous improvement of access networks by Internet access providers and other autonomous systems (AS)," emphasizes Milton Kashiwakura, Director of Special Projects and Development at NIC.br.

In terms of measured speed, the study revealed a reduction in disparities observed between regions, especially with increasing figures in the North and Northeast, which had the worst performance in 2013. Between 2014 and 2016, the differences between regions decreased - in the Northeast, for example, the difference, which was -44% in 2014, dropped to -3% in 2016. The study also points to stability in the results observed in the Southeast region.

Regarding latency (the transit time of information in a connection), there was a decrease. Throughout the historical series analyzed, the North and Northeast presented high results for this indicator and worse connection quality in terms of time spent for information transmissions. In 2013, this index in the North was nearly five times higher than that of the Southeast - and by the end of the analyzed period, it was 3.6 times higher.

The states that received the best evaluations, according to the analysis of speed and latency results between 2013 and 2016, were São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Goiás, and Paraná. The study highlights the differences between them: São Paulo, in 2016, presented almost five times higher speed results and latency nearly two times lower than Pará, representing connections with higher speed and more stability. In the year 2016, with the exception of Pará, Bahia, and Goiás, all states presented better TCP download speed performance compared to the total set of 2013.

Results of Cetic.br surveys

The publication "Broadband in Brazil: a study on the evolution of access and quality of Internet connections" also gathers results of different surveys conducted by Cetic.br between the years 2013 and 2016. These include: ICT Households, ICT Enterprises, ICT Education, ICT Electronic Government, ICT Health, and ICT Providers.

The comparison between institutions from different sectors with broadband connections via cable or optical fiber shows that, in the public sector, state and federal organs stand out, with almost universal access to broadband connection via cable or optical fiber (96%). The scenario is different among municipalities (69%), Brazilian companies (64%), and health establishments (63% of those that are public). In the country's schools located in urban areas, less than half had broadband connections via cable or optical fiber (41% of public schools).

Regarding the speed of the main connection used, 40% of companies declared having connections above 10 Mbps in 2015, a proportion that was only 26% among health establishments and just 11% among schools. The growth of connections above 10 Mbps was unequal between 2013 and 2015: among schools, it rose from 8% to 11%, a relative growth of 37%; in health, it grew 136%, going from 11% to 26%; among companies, the growth was 66% (from 24% to 40%).

The study also noted that between 2013 and 2016, there was growth in mobile connections in households of classes C and, especially, DE. "The data and indicators analyzed in this publication, from a demand and supply perspective, indicate that public policies should seek to overcome inequalities that are largely embedded in most sources of analysis - especially regional issues - but also those related to the different actors who enjoy and provide access to quality broadband Internet, thus creating a technological infrastructure environment conducive to economic and social development," comments Alexandre Barbosa, manager of Cetic.br.

The study is fully available at: https://cetic.br/publicacao/banda-larga-no-brasil-um-estudo-sobre-a-evolucao-do-acesso-e-da-qualidade-das-conexoes-a-internet/

Also access all Cetic.br surveys: https://cetic.br/pesquisas/. Test your connection's performance and learn about Simet's solutions: https://simet.nic.br/.

About Ceptro.br

The Center for Study and Research on Network Technology and Operations (Ceptro.br) is responsible for projects aimed at improving the quality of the Internet in Brazil and disseminating its use, with a particular focus on its technical and infrastructure aspects. Ceptro.br manages, among other projects, Simet, NTP.br, and IPv6.br. More information can be obtained at https://www.ceptro.br/.

About Cetic.br

The Regional Center for Studies on the Development of the Information Society, part of NIC.br, is responsible for producing indicators and statistics on the availability and use of the Internet in Brazil, disseminating periodic analyses and information about the network's development in the country. Cetic.br is a Regional Center for Studies under the auspices of UNESCO. More information is available at https://www.cetic.br/.

About the Brazilian Network Information Center – NIC.br

The Brazilian Network Information Center — NIC.br (https://www.nic.br/) is a civil, private, and non-profit entity that, in addition to implementing the decisions and projects of the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, is responsible for: coordinating domain name registration — Registro.br (https://www.registro.br/), studying, responding to, and handling security incidents in Brazil — CERT.br (https://www.cert.br/), studying and researching networks and operations technologies — Ceptro.br (https://www.ceptro.br/), producing information and communication technology indicators — Cetic.br (https://www.cetic.br/), implementing and operating Internet Exchange Points — IX.br (https://ix.br/), enabling the Brazilian community's participation in the global Web development and supporting the formulation of public policies — Ceweb.br (https://www.ceweb.br), and housing the W3C office in Brazil (https://www.w3c.br/).

About the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee – CGI.br

The Brazilian Internet Steering Committee, responsible for establishing strategic guidelines related to the use and development of the Internet in Brazil, coordinates and integrates all Internet service initiatives in the country, promoting technical quality, innovation, and dissemination of offered services. Based on the principles of multistakeholderism and transparency, CGI.br represents a democratic Internet governance model, praised internationally, where all society sectors participate equitably in its decisions. One of its formulations is the 10 Principles for Internet Governance and Use (https://www.cgi.br/principios). More information is available at https://www.cgi.br/.

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