Brazil´s Oi Telecom Reaches 2 Million Optical Fiber Customers in December

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Oi Telecom reached two million customers in its optical fiber operation in December 2020, the company announced on Tuesday morning, December 8th. The provider has doubled its customer base in eight months, said Bernardo Winik, the company’s customer vice president.

“We grew from 700,000 clients in late 2019 to one million at the start of 2020 and now we enter December with this good news of two million total clients,” he said in a press conference, noting that this is the core of the company’s strategy for the coming years.

The executive also noted that Oi reached the mark of 9.2 million homes with optical fiber in December, one million higher than the company’s original projection, with 134 cities served. In 13 Brazilian capitals, Oi’s product is now market leader. “Performance was well above that expected when we designed the project, it is a reason of great pride for Oi.”

Winik pointed out that in the net addition of fiber customers, 80% have no relationship with the company, buying the product on recommendation from other people. The remainder is from customers who upgrade traditional broadband packages.

Average revenue per user rose from R$85 to R$88 in one year, with fourth quarter sales of R$402,3 million in the optical fiber segment. “This shows the success of our strategy, of our company’s operation, we are moving forward and the result is here.”

Oi’s aggressive expansion plan for the optical fiber segment entails reaching an estimated four million clients by the end of 2021, against two million this year, with 228 cities served – an increase of 94 cities in the country – and around 15 million homes.

According to José Claudio Moreira Gonçalves, operations and technology vice-president, the figure is not far from this, considering the company’s growth so far and the new products it intends to launch next year.

“We are making fiber pilots of 1 GB speed and with a full connectivity solution for our clients”, commented the executive. “We have introduced the fifth generation of optical fiber, it means implementing the XGSPON that allows even higher speeds and simultaneous downloads and uploads”.

The end of the novel coronavirus pandemic and social isolation should not reduce the pace of expansion of Oi’s optical fiber, according to Bernardo Winik. “People’s habits have changed, many companies will keep the home office, and broadband market share in the country gives us the peace of mind to say that this rate will be maintained,” he said at a press conference.

“Clients are demanding a high quality product more and more. The demand and the technological evolution that optical fiber provides render this expansion very feasible for 2021,” he commented, emphasizing that Oi’s product is differentiated for handling the whole optical fiber infrastructure. “Other providers struggle to implement it, having the technology is not enough, you must ensure fluidity for traffic.”

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