Carried out in partnership with the Ministry of Communications, the Information and Communication Technologies – ICT supplement of the National Household Sample Survey – PNAD showed that the access to the Internet through mobile phones surpassed that through microcomputers in the Brazilian households for the first time ever. Among the households that accessed the Internet – including those using more than one way of access –, the percentage of those that used microcomputers declined from 88.4% to 76.6% between 2013 and 2014, whereas the proportion of the households that accessed the Internet through mobile phones jumped from 53.6% to 80.4%.

In 2004, the access to the Internet through microcomputers stayed at 6.3 million households and changed to 28.2 million in 2014. These figures amounted to 12.2% of the households in 2004 and to 42.1% in 2014.

As of 2013, PNAD ICT started to investigate the access to the Internet through devices other than microcomputers (mobile phones, tablets, TV sets and others). Considering all these ways of access, 48.0% of the households accessed the Internet in 2013 and 54.9% (or 36.8 million) in 2014.

In 2014, about 16.5% (11.1 million) of the households in Brazil owned tablets, an increase of 5.7 percentage points in relation to 2013, when the existence of such device in households was investigated for the first time. In relation to 2013, the home access to the Internet through tablets increased 50.4%.

Of the 36.8 million households with access to the Internet, 0.8% had only dial-up connections and 99.2%, broadband connections in 2014. Fixed broadband connections grew 9.9% in relation to 2013, yet their proportion dropped: from 77.1% to 71.9% of the households with Internet. Wireless broadband (mobile phones) jumped from 43.5% to 62.8% of the households with Internet.

Among the three types of TV investigated by PNAD ICT 2014, digital broadcast TVs reached 39.8% of the households in Brazil, pay TVs reached 32.1% and satellite TVs, 38.0%. Among these three types, pay TV increased the most: an expansion of 12% in relation to 2013. Among the households with TV sets, 23.1% – or about 15.1 million – had none of these three types of access to the TV schedule.

Among the 106.8 million existing TV sets in the Brazilian households in 2014, 52.1% were CRT TVs and 47.9%, flat screen TVs, against 61.6% and 38.4%, respectively, in 2013. The proportion of flat screen TVs increased by 9.5 percentage points within one year.

Between 2013 and 2014, the proportion of persons aged 10 years and over who accessed the Internet through electronic devices other than microcomputers jumped from 4.2% to 10.5%. In absolute numbers, this increase was of 155.6% (or more 11.2 million persons).

The percentage of the population aged 10 years and over who had mobile phones for personal use reached 77.9% in 2014 (136.6 million persons). In relation to 2005, this contingent rose 142.8%.

In 2014, more than half (52.5%) of the rural population aged 10 years and over had mobile phones for the first time ever. In the urban areas, this percentage reached 82.3%.
The main information of PNAD ICT 2014 can be found below.
See the complete publication of the survey here.

PNAD ICT 2014 includes information related to 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014, down to the geographic level of Federation Units. The households were surveyed in terms of access to digital broadcast TVs, pay TVs and satellite TVs; existence and amount of CRT and flat screen TVs; existence of tablets; access to the Internet and types of electronic devices used (microcomputers, mobile telephones, tablets, TV sets and others) and whether this access was dial-up, fixed broadband or wireless broadband.

The use of the Internet and the ownership of mobile telephones for personal use by the population aged 10 years and over was also surveyed, according to sex, schooling level, ways of insertion in the labor market and per capita monthly household earnings.

Proportion of households with access to Internet rises from 48.0% to 54.9% within one year

The number of households with access to the Internet through microcomputers changed from 6.3 million in 2004 to 25.7 million in 2012. These figures amounted to 12.2% of the households in 2004 and to 40.3% in 2012. The increase in absolute numbers was smoother in the subsequent years: to 27.6 million in 2013 and to 28.2 million in 2014. In this period, the percentage of households with access to the Internet through microcomputers slightly retreated in proportional terms: from 42.4% to 42.1% of the total number of households in Brazil between 2013 and 2014.

As of 2013, PNAD ICT started to investigate the access to the Internet through devices other than microcomputers (mobile telephones, tablets, TV sets and others). Considering all the types of access surveyed, 48.0% of the households in Brazil accessed the Internet in 2013 and more than half of them, in 2014: 54.9% of the total, or 36.8 million households. The percentages were quite different, depending on whether they were urban or rural: 60.8% of the urban and 18.5% of the rural households.

Considering the ranges of per capita household earnings, the highest percentage of households with access to the Internet was among those above 5 minimum wages (88.9%) and the lowest (25.3%), among those households with earnings below 1/4 minimum wages.

In 2014, mobile telephones surpass microcomputers in home access to Internet

For the first time ever, the access to the Internet through mobile telephones surpassed that through microcomputers in the Brazilian households: between 2013 and 2014, the percentage of households that accessed the Internet through microcomputers declined from 88.4% to 76.6%, whereas the proportion of those that accessed the Internet through mobile telephones jumped from 53.6% to 80.4%.

Among the households that accessed the Internet – including those that used more than one way of access – in 2014, 80.4% did it through mobile telephones, 76.6% through microcomputers, 21.9% through tablets, 4.9% through TV sets and 0.9% through other devices. The access through tablets, mobile telephones and TV sets increased 50.4%, 76.8% and 116.34%, respectively, in relation to 2013.

PNAD ICT 2014 investigated whether the access to the Internet was through a dial-up, fixed broadband or wireless broadband connection. Of the 36.8 million households with access to the Internet, 0.8% had only dial-up connections and 99.2%, broadband connections.

In absolute terms, the connection through fixed broadband rose 9.9% in relation to 2013, yet its proportion decreased 5.2 percentage points: from 77.1% to 71.9% of the households with Internet. Meanwhile, the presence of wireless broadband jumped from 43.5% to 62.8% of the households with Internet, a gain of 19.3 percentage points in this period.

Access to Internet without microcomputers increases 155.6% between 2013 and 2014

Between 2013 and 2014, the proportion of those who accessed the Internet through electronic devices other than microcomputers jumped from 4.2% to 10.5% of persons aged 10 years and over. It increased 155.6% (or more 11.2 million persons). In the same period, the proportion of persons aged 10 years and over who used microcomputers to access the Internet reduced from 45.3% to 43.9%, as well as its absolute number: from 78.3 million to 76.9 million persons.

In 2014, about 95.4 million persons aged 10 years and over (54.4% of the population) used the Internet at least once in the 90-day period before the PNAD interview. This figure increased 5.0 percentage points in relation to 2013 (49.4%).

In 2014, the access to the Internet grew in the five regions, thanks to the use of devices other than microcomputers, since the use of this media declined in all of them.

Access to Internet prevails among youngsters and more educated

The younger groups held the highest percentages of Internet use, particularly the group aged between 15 and 17 years (81.8%). The lowest proportion concentrated on persons aged 60 years and over (14.9%). The use of the Internet grew in all the age groups between 2013 and 2014.

The access to the Internet showed increasing proportions among those more educated. The highest percentage was registered among the population with 15 or more schooling years (92.1%). The use of the Internet increased in all the levels of schooling in relation to 2013, except for the uneducated group and that with less than 1 year of study (from 5.4% in 2013 to 5.2% in 2014).

Among those studying in public schools, 73.3% (19.9 million) used the Internet in 2014. In the private system, 97.2% of them (9.1 million) used the Internet.

The proportion of persons using the Internet was higher in the classes with higher per capita monthly household earnings. The highest percentage (91.5%) was reported in the class above 10 minimum wages and the lowest (28.8%), in the class below 1/4 minimum wages. The proportion of users rose in all the earnings ranges.

11.1 million households have tablets in 2014

In 2014, about 16.5% (11.1 million) permanent private households in Brazil had tablets, an increase of 5.7 percentage points in relation to 2013. More than half of them (6.1 million) were in the Southeast, the region with the highest percentage of households with such devices (20.8%), while the lowest proportion was in the North (8.6%).

In 2014, the households with tablets had per capita monthly household earnings of
R$ 2,213 and, in those that did not have them, they were R$ 1,049.

97.1% of households in Brazil have TV sets in 2014

In 2014, Brazil had 67.0 million permanent private households and 97.1% of them (65.1 million) had TV sets. This indicator increased 2.9% in relation to 2013.

PNAD ICT 2014 also investigated three types of access to the TV schedule: Digital broadcast television (reception of digital free-to-air broadcasting through terrestrial antennas); pay TV (pay reception of coded TV signal) and satellite TVs (reception of free satellite signal). ICT 2014 did not survey the television schedule through the Internet.

In 2014, broadcast TV reaches 39.8% of Brazilian households

The proportion of households accessing digital broadcast TV grew 8.6 percentage points and reached 39.8% of the households with television. Digital broadcast TV increased both in the rural and urban areas, reaching, respectively, 15.7% and 43.5% of the households with TV.

The Southeast remained with the highest percentage of households with digital broadcast TV (45.7%), followed by the South (41.5%) and the Central-West (40.8%). Both the North and the Northeast reached nearly 30%. The proportion of households with digital broadcast TV increased in all the Federation Units.

Number of households with pay TV rises 12.0% within one year

The number of households with pay TV rose 12.0% in relation to 2013, reaching 32.1% of the households with TV sets. Like digital broadcast TV, pay TV was more present in the urban (35.9%) than in the rural area (7.5%). The Southeast remained with the highest proportion of households with pay TV (43.6%), followed by the South (32.5%), Central-West (30.0%), North (19.8%) and Northeast (16.3%).

The higher the class of per capita monthly household earnings, the higher the percentage of households with pay TV: for households with earnings up to three minimum wages, the proportions were below 50.0%. The proportion was 77.3% in the households where such earnings surpassed five minimum wages.

Satellite TV reaches 38.0% of households and prevails in rural areas

Satellite TV was present in 38.0% of the households with TV sets. Unlike 'digital broadcast' and 'pay TV', its presence in the rural area (78.5%) was bigger than in the urban area (31.8%). Unlike also these two other types, satellite TV prevailed in the households with lower per capita earnings.

Among the households with TV sets, 32.1% did not have any digital broadcast TV, yet counting with at least one type of access to the TV schedule: 22.6% had only satellite TV; 7.4% had only pay TV and 2.1% had satellite TV and pay TV.

15.1 million households have neither one of three TV types investigated

Still among the households with TV sets, about 15.1 million (23.1%) had neither one of the three types of access to the TV schedule investigated (satellite TV, pay TV or digital broadcast TV).

For the households with neither one of these three types of access to the TV schedule, the alternative was analogic broadcast TV. This group of households deserves special attention, since it would not be able to access the TV schedule through conventional means when the analogic signal is turned off and replaced by the digital signal all over the Brazilian territory. The North Region remained with the highest percentage of households with neither one of the three types (27.7%) and the Southeast (21.8%), with the lowest percentage.

Proportion of flat screen TVs changes from 38.4% to 47.9% within one year

Among the 106.8 million existing TV sets in the Brazilian households in 2014, 55.6 million (52.1%) were CRT TVs and 51.2 million (47.9%), flat screen TVs. In 2013, these percentages were 61.6% and 38.4%, respectively. The proportion of flat screen TVs increased by 9.5 percentage points in relation to 2013. The rural area had a higher proportion of CRT TVs (74.0%) and the urban, a higher proportion of flat screen TVs (50.4%).

Of the 65.1 million permanent private households with TVs, 33.6% had only flat screen TVs, 44.3% had only CRT TVs and 22.1%, both types. The Northeast had the highest percentage of households with CRT TVs only (56.7%) and the Central-West, the highest proportion of households with flat screen TVs only (38.5%).

77.9% of population aged 10 years and over have mobile telephones in 2014

In 2014, about 136.6 million persons aged 10 years and over owned mobile telephones for personal use, corresponding to 77.9% of the population within this age group. This contingent increased 142.8% over 2005 (or more 80.3 million persons). In relation to 2008, the increase was 56.7% (49.4 million persons) and, compared with 2013, the increase was 4.9% (more 6.4 million persons).

Despite the lowest proportions of persons with mobile telephones in relation to the overall population, the North and Northeast Regions reported the highest increases of this contingent between 2013 and 2014 (2.7 and 3.8 percentage points, respectively).

In 2014, more than half of rural population owns mobile telephones first time ever

In 2014, the percentage of persons who owned mobile telephones for personal use in the population aged 10 years and over was 82.3% in the urban areas and 52.5% in the rural areas. These two contingents grew in relation to 2013, mostly in the rural areas: 4.6 percentage points, so that more than half of the rural population owned mobile telephones in 2014. The Central-West reported the highest percentages of persons with such device, both in the urban (87.6%) and in the rural areas (71.1%).

Between 2013 and 2014, the ownership of mobile telephones increased in all the age groups, hitting its peak among those between 20 and 24 years of age (89.4%). In 2014, more than 80% of the persons aged between 15 and 54 years had mobile phones. The lowest proportions were in the groups between 10 and 14 years (54.1%) and aged 60 years and over (55.6%).

The ownership of mobile telephones for personal use varied according to the employment type and category. Whereas 95.7% of the employers and 95.3% of the military and statutory public servants owned mobile phones in 2014, 91.1% of the domestic workers, 81.4% of self-employed workers and 61.1% of the unpaid workers owned such device in the same period.

Concerning the classes of per capita monthly household earnings in 2014, 53.0% of the persons owned mobile phones in the group without earnings up to 1/4 minimum wages, while this proportion reached 95.9% in the group above 10 minimum wages.