Web penetration increased by 33% in the third quarter of 2014, Akamai reports today, continuing an upward trend fueled by Brazilians buying web-connected mobile phones. The U.S. still leads in the number of unique IPv4 addresses, followed by China and then Brazil.
BY THAD RUETER
Internet penetration in Brazil increased 33% in the third quarter of 2014 compared with
the same period in 2013, according to a report released today by Akamai
Technologies Inc., a content delivery network and web security firm. That
robust growth in the number of consumers going online comes as South America’s
largest country gains e-commerce momentum.
The Akamai report, its third
quarter “State of the Internet Report,” measures the
growth in “unique IPv4 addresses” globally. Internet protocol version four
routes most web traffic (a newer version is in the works). Akamai crafts its
figures by measuring addresses connected to the Akamai Intelligent Platform, a web-hosted platform used by its client for web security and
other tasks.
Akamai says that IPv4 unique addresses in Brazil neared
45.5 million in the third quarter, up 3.1% from the second quarter of 2014.
That means Brazil has shown the highest such growth among the top 10 countries
for unique IPv4 addresses.
Akamai did not immediately provide an explanation for the
rapid growth in the number of consumers accessing the web in Brazil. But
e-commerce experts say Brazilian shoppers have been snapping up inexpensive
web-connected smartphones, often purchasing them from Chinese retail web sites
for as little as $50, in recent years since the government reduced taxes on
wireless service.
Mobile phone user penetration was expected to reach 75.9%
in 2014 in Brazil, although the percentage of consumers with smartphones was
still a relatively low 20.3%, according to a report from market research firm
eMarketer. By 2018, however, eMarketer predicts half of Brazil’s population
will have access to the Internet via a smartphone.
The growth in Internet access is
helping drive rapid growth in online retail sales
in Brazil. In late 2014, for instance, market
research firm eMarketer predicted that web sales in Brazil will increase 22%
year over year in 2014, to $16.28 billion. That nearly matches the 22.2% global web sales growth average for
2014. That helps to explains why such large e-retailers as Amazon.com Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are working to beef
up their e-commerce efforts in Brazil.
Globally, there exist more than 760.6 million unique IPv4
addresses, Akamai says. It says the number of those addresses will decline as
more carriers try to conserve “limited IPv4 address space” by moving to IPv6
and other methods.
Here is the top 10 list by country, with unique IPv4
addresses as of the third quarter and the year-over-year growth or reduction
percentage figures:
• United States: 156.8 million, -1.1%
• China: 122.1 million, 5.9%
• Brazil, 45.5 million, 33%
• Japan, 40.7 million, 1.6%
• Germany, 36.8 million, 0.0%
• France, 28.3 million, 4.1%
• United Kingdom, 26.7 million, -8.2%
• South Korea, 20.7 million, -2.2%
• Italy, 18.6 million, -2.9%
• Russia, 18.6 million, 5.8%