23/05/2013
Internet already reaches 46.5% of the population, says IBGE Autor: Valor Econômico
Driven by improvements in income, especially between classes C and D, and cheaper technologies in the country, the share of the population with internet access already covers almost half of the total, with 46.5% share in 2011, before 20.9% in 2005. In addition, the render more favorable allowed number of persons with mobile phone doubled over six years to 115.4 million.
The numbers drawn from the survey "Internet Access and Possession of Cellular Mobile Telephone for Personal Use", which uses data from the National Household Sample Survey (PNAD), released yesterday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Experts celebrated the result, but warned: the advance of this year inflation can erode the purchasing power, especially among the poor and that, in practice, threatens to disrupt the growing use of internet and mobile telephony in the country.
The IBGE found that, from 2005 to 2011, there was an increase of 45.8 million Internet users, who have already reached 77.7 million. During the period, were also counted 59.7 million more mobile users. "There was a decrease in the cost of technology, which allowed greater scope of the internet. Moreover, we now have phones for all pockets" summarized the researcher of the institute, Adriana Beringuy. With real income gains from work and significant annual increases in the minimum wage, the purchase of durable goods and services such as phones and internet was leveraged, she said.
The lower ranges of income were highlighted. One example was the evolution of the share of those with total cell domestic workers, which increased from 30.3% in 2005 to 76.5% in 2011 - the biggest advance among the 11 occupations surveyed. Furthermore, in 2011, the IBGE first detected internet access in more than a third of the population of the North and Northeast, the poorest in the country. "The current scenario shows breakthrough. But, at least in the case of the Internet, we can not forget that we still have more than half [53.5%] of the population without access", said the researcher.
This was also emphasized by the vice president of the Association of Internet Providers and Telecommunications (Abrint), Wardner Maia. "The percentage of internet access in the total population, 45.6%, is above the Latin American average of 40%. But it is smaller than that of Argentina, 60%," he said, adding that this percentage is designed only to Brazil in 2014.
However, the rise in inflation can be an obstacle to the chief economist at SulAmérica Investimentos, Newton Rosa. "The high prices this year, mostly in foods, can raise the portion of the budget dedicated to food and reduce the purchasing power for services and durable," he warned.
Local economist of the National Confederation of Commerce (CNC) Bruno Fernandes admitted that inflation higher than expected this year surprised and can reduce the purchasing power in the short term, for non-essential items like cell phone and internet. But considered that, if it occurs, this scenario is not sustainable. In its analysis, there is now a process of diversification in the types of Brazilian consumption, mainly in classes C and D, whose shopping cart was focused on the acquisition of food. "It is a process of no return," he concluded.
Alessandra Saraiva - The River
