The number of municipalities that offer internet connection via Wi-Fi grew 83.2%, according to the Profile of States and Brazilian Municipalities survey, made by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) and published recently.
Of the 5,570 Brazilian municipalities, 1,457 provided wi-fi through public networks in 2014 – the survey does not include the private companies that sell subscriptions. Despite the leap from 2012 (year of the last survey), the cities that provide this type of access account for only 26.2% of the total.
Wi-fi Ranking
Among the states, Acre is the one with the least amount of cities to offer Wi-Fi. They are just two, Assis Brazil and Sena Madureira, representing 9.1% of the total.
Although low, the index represents an advance because in 2012 no Acre city offered this type of Internet connection.
At the other end, States with more municipalities that provide the connection, appear São Paulo, with 207, Minas Gerais, with 155, and Rio Grande do Sul, with 116.
Not all municipalities, however, extend the coverage of Wi-Fi connection throughout the city. Only 79 municipalities do so, representing only 5.4% of the total. Most restricts access to some neighborhoods. This is the case of 910 cities (62.4% of total).
The third group consists of those who offer the signal only in the urban area of the city (11.6%) and the extend to some regions of the rural areas (20.5%).
Connected Services
IBGE also analyzed the services offered by municipalities on the Internet: in 2014, 1,548 cities would offer websites that not only displays or send information to citizens but also to conduct transactions. This includes paying bills or enrollments in public schools. The number is 31.3%, up from 6.8% 2012.
