{"id":31864,"date":"2025-11-20T18:36:38","date_gmt":"2025-11-20T18:36:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lacnic.net\/?p=31864"},"modified":"2026-01-09T15:38:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T15:38:55","slug":"telecom-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lacnic.net\/en\/telecom-brazil\/","title":{"rendered":"Key Telecom Trends in Brazil for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Peter Wood<\/a>,  Senior Research Analyst at TeleGeography<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article was originally published on the TeleGeography Blog<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re looking for a snapshot of the Latin American telecommunications landscape going into 2026, look no further than what’s going on in Brazil. As the largest regional economy, Brazil’s telecom market influences the direction of regional markets\u2014and there’s a lot to take note of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using our own data and analysis, and with input from our telecom industry contracts in Latin America, we’ve summarized what you need to know about the telecom industry in Brazil as we look to 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to learn about:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. The rapid growth of data centers across Brazil, with a focus on emerging hubs, and driving forces such as reliable energy, government incentives, and subsea cable proximity.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Price erosion in Brazil’s wholesale market for backbone connectivity and IP transit.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The increasing importance of digital sovereignty in network infrastructure, and considerations for diverse routing of submarine cables and alternative satellite connectivity solutions.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    <\/a>More data centers, in more locations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    According to our Data Center Research Service<\/a> platform, Brazil is currently home to 112 data centers. But that number is quickly growing, with a range of companies looking to open new facilities in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Map<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Map of current data centers in Brazil. Source: TeleGeography\u2019s Data Center Research Service<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Many of the planned data centers in Brazil will be constructed in a familiar location: S\u00e3o Paulo. The greater metropolitan area of S\u00e3o Paulo has historically served as a hub for data centers\u2014and related connectivity\u2014within Brazil and Latin America. We expect this to remain true for the foreseeable future. But as the workload on S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s network keeps rising, other cities are jockeying for investment to decentralize some of the expected growth<\/a> in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Outside of S\u00e3o Paulo, Fortaleza has emerged as an increasingly attractive location for new data centers to be constructed. Contacts we spoke with note that several factors help explain this, including a reliable energy grid, governmental incentives, and proximity to multiple subsea cables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Another city that has repeatedly been mentioned is Porto Alegre. This comes after Meta and V.tal announced plans to extend the Malbec system to land there. According to TeleGeography\u2019s submarine cable map<\/a>, this would be the first subsea system to arrive in Porto Alegre, potentially sparking new investment in data centers throughout the surrounding area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Other Brazilian cities we have heard discussed include Recife, Natal, Manaus, and Brasilia. When evaluating potential sites for network expansion, factors like energy availability, environment impact, and proximity to submarine cable landing stations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/a>Transport and IP price erosion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Another topic we have been paying attention to is a familiar one: price erosion<\/a>. Specifically in the wholesale market, the cost of backbone connectivity has plummeted in Brazil<\/a>. That\u2019s especially true in major markets like S\u00e3o Paulo where strong competition and abundant supply have pushed prices down in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"Weighted<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Weighted Median 100 Gbps Wavelength Prices & CAGR Price Decline on Global Routes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In the above figure, you can see pricing from our Wavelengths Pricing Database<\/a> to help visualize this point. Each bar represents the weighted median monthly lease price for 100 Gbps wavelengths on select routes around the world, with the red bubbles showing price erosion from 2022-2025. Toward the left is Miami\u2013S\u00e3o Paulo, where the weighted median price for 100 Gbps was $10,400 in Q2 2025, a 22% drop since 2022. We\u2019ve recently heard even more aggressive quotes, with some contacts reporting as low as $5,000 for 100 Gbps on this main route between Brazil and the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Similar to transport, IP transit prices have also become extremely competitive in Brazil. We typically hear carriers report flat pricing approaches in Brazil\u2019s top three connectivity hubs of S\u00e3o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Fortaleza. And across all those markets, we have been told that prices have fallen as low as $0.10\/Mbps for a 10 GigE port.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    According to our IP Transit Pricing Database<\/a>, the weighted median price for a 10 GigE port in S\u00e3o Paulo was $0.30\/Mbps in Q2 2025. Compare that to five years ago, when our weighted median price for a port in S\u00e3o Paulo of the same capacity had a weighted median price of $1.04\/Mbps. That\u2019s a rate of 22% erosion, compounded annually over that time period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/a>The influence of geopolitics on connectivity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Whether in Brazil or elsewhere, the topic of digital sovereignty keeps coming up. As it relates to network infrastructure, two main themes stand out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n