Brazil has 12.2 million residential Internet users, according to research center Ibope/Net Ratings. The number refers to December 2005 and means growth of 12.4% when compared to December 2004. The average connection time, according to the study, is 17 hours and 59 minutes a month.
Brazil is the leader in terms of connection time among the eleven countries researched, ahead of the United States, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The connection time per user in December 2005 was five times higher than in the same month in 2004.
The computer has become one of the hottest selling items in Brazil. The 2004 Household Survey (PNAD) by the government statistical bureau (IBGE), release at the end of last year, found that in 2004 16.6% of all homes in the country had a computer, up from 11.2% in 2003. And the number of homes with Internet connections rose over 10% during the same period.
Another very popular item is the cell phone. In just a year, from 2003 to 2004, sales rose over 50% (the biggest jump since they became part of the PNAD survey in 2001).
At the same time, the percentage of homes with a fixed land telephone line actually dropped from 50.8% to 49.6%.