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The Ministry of Communications is responsible by strategic, long term planning, while Anatel - Agencia Nacional de Telecomunicacoes is responsible for regulatory functions. Brazil's system is GSM 1800. GSM systems are used in nearly 200 countries worldwide. Most cell phone manufacturers offer dual-band (900 and 1900 Mhz), tri-band (900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz) and a growing number of quad-band (800, 900, 1800 and 1900 Mhz) phones that will work practically anywhere GSM systems are found.

Use of mobile phones has been very popular. In 1997 there were 4.6 million users; today there are around 154,600 million users. The mobile service teledensity rate (number of mobile telephones in use per 100 inhabitants) is 65.09.

Mobile phone numbers in Brazil are assigned by geographic area codes. Like the rest of the Brazilian numbering system, mobile phone numbers have eight digits. Mobile phone numbers start with the digits 6, 7, 8 or 9.

Example of Rates

Rates are still relatively high compared to basic cost of living. Cost of subscription is very unattractive to most Brazilians and about 80 percent of mobile phones operate on the "pay as you go" system. visiting buying a prepaid Sim card from one of the major companies can save you money

A basic breakdown or rates
Outgoing local calls: around R$1.19 per minute
Incoming calls: Free
Outgoing long distance calls: R$1.69 per min
National Roaming charges: R$0.50 per call
Roaming for SMS/text: R$0.25 per message

Providers

Vivo Telefonica - Leads the market
Claro - the local branch of Mexico's America Movil SA.
Tim - owned by the Italian company Telecom Italia.
Oi Móvel - The only truly Brazilian company, known as the "original Oi", this was the first network using GSM in Brazil. Oi has the practice of not calling its phones "cell phones", but "Ois".