Portugal - Broadband Market Insights, Statistics and Forecasts

Synopsis

Portugal’s broadband penetration is considerably lower than the European average, though the efforts of a capable and robust regulator coupled with infrastructure upgrades in both the cable and DSL sectors have narrowed the gap during the last two years. Cable has showed strong growth in recent years, partly through the efforts of the rebranded dominant operator ZON Multimédia. The incumbent, Portugal Telecom, and its subsidiaries control most of the DSL market, but new regulatory provisions have granted easier and cheaper access for alternative ISPs.

All operators have focussed on increasing broadband speed, while the regulator has encouraged and maintained the impetus for local loop unbundling. The fibre market remains underdeveloped, though regulatory measures coupled with substantial investments planned by the major operators should see significant growth from 2011. This report profiles Portugal’s fixed and wireless broadband markets in 2011, providing key statistics on the retail and wholesale sectors as well as subscriber forecasts to 2020.

Key developments:

Fibre sector showing strongest growth, accounting for 75% of all new subscribers, regulator market data for 2010 and data updates to Q2 2011; operator data to June 2011.

Companies covered include:

Portugal Telecom, Sonaecom, Cabovisão, Vodafone, ZON Multimedia.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Overview
  • 2.1 Broadband statistics
• 3. Cable modems
  • 3.1 ZON Multimédia
  • 3.2 Cabovisão
• 4. Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
  • 4.1 Portugal Telecom
  • 4.2 Sonaecom
  • 4.3 ADSL2+
  • 4.4 Wholesale
    • 4.4.1 Naked DSL
  • 4.5 Wholesale prices and retail price difference
• 5. Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) networks
  • 5.1 Sonaecom
  • 5.2 ZON Multimédia
  • 5.3 Portugal Telecom
  • 5.4 Vodafone
• 6. Broadband over Powerline (BPL)
• 7. Mobile broadband
• 8. Wireless broadband
  • 8.1 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
  • 8.2 WiFi
• 9. Forecasts – broadband subscribers – 2009 - 2012; 2020
  • 9.1 Scenario 1 – higher broadband subscriber growth
  • 9.2 Scenario 2 – lower broadband subscriber growth
  • 9.3 Notes on scenario forecasts
• 10. Related reports

• Table 1 – Internet subscribers by access type – 2005 - 2011
• Table 2 – Internet revenue, fixed and mobile – 2008 – 2010
• Table 3 – Proportion of broadband subscribers by access type – 2007 - 2011
• Table 4 – Broadband subscribers by operator type (EC data) – 2007 - 2009
• Table 5 – Total broadband subscribers by type – 2000 - 2011
• Table 6 – Broadband subscriber annual change year-on-year – 2002 - 2012
• Table 7 – Broadband penetration by sector – 2007 - 2011
• Table 8 – Share of broadband accesses by operator – 2008 - 2011
• Table 9 – Fixed-line broadband traffic in Terabytes – 2008 - 2012
• Table 10 – Fixed-line and mobile broadband traffic per month per customer – 2008 - 2010
• Table 11 – Share of cable broadband accesses by operator – 2003 - 2010
• Table 12 – ZON Multimédia cable broadband subscribers – 2004 - 2010
• Table 13 – Portugal Telecom DSL broadband subscribers – 2006 - 2011
• Table 14 – Sonaecom broadband subscribers – 2008 - 2011
• Table 15 – Sonaecom equipped exchanges – 2008 - 2011
• Table 16 – Portugal Telecom wholesale accesses – 2004 - 2011
• Table 17 – FttX subscribers – 2008 - 2011
• Table 18 – FttX market share by subscribers – 2008 - 2011
• Table 19 – Mobile broadband subscribers – 2007 - 2010
• Table 20 – Share of mobile broadband subscribers by operator – 2010
• Table 21 – Mobile broadband traffic – 2009 - 2011
• Table 22 – Forecast broadband subscribers – higher market growth scenario – 2009 - 2012; 2020
• Table 23 – Forecast broadband subscribers – lower market growth scenario – 2009 - 2012; 2020

• Chart 1 - Internet subscribers by access type – 2005 - 2011
• Chart 2 – Proportion of broadband subscribers by access type – 2007 - 2010
• Chart 3 – Total broadband subscribers by type – 2000 – 2011
• Chart 4 – Broadband penetration by sector – 2007 – 2011
• Chart 5 – Fixed-line and mobile broadband traffic per month per customer – 2008 – 2010
• Chart 6 – Portugal Telecom DSL broadband subscribers – 2006 - 2011
• Chart 7 – Portugal Telecom wholesale accesses – 2006 – 2011
• Chart 8 – FttX subscribers – 2008 - 2011
• Chart 9 – Mobile broadband subscribers – 2007 - 2010
• Chart 10 – Share of mobile broadband subscribers by operator– 2010