2019 Portugal - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Last updated: 20 May 2020 Update History

Report Status: Archived

Report Pages: 136

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Publication Overview

This report provides a comprehensive overview of trends and developments in Portugal’s telecommunications market. The report analyses the fixed-line, mobile and broadband sectors. Subjects include:

Market and industry analyses, trends and developments;
Facts, figures and statistics;
Industry and regulatory issues;
Infrastructure developments;
Major Players, Revenues, Subscribers, ARPU, MoU;
Mobile Voice and Data Markets;
Broadband (FttP, DSL, cable, wireless);
Mobile subscribers and ARPU;
Broadband market forecasts;
Government policies affecting the telecoms industry;
Market liberalisation and industry issues;
Telecoms operators – privatisation, IPOs, acquisitions, new licences;
Mobile technologies (GSM; 3G, HSPA, LTE, 5G).

Researcher:- Henry Lancaster
Current publication date:- July 2019 (18th Edition)

Executive Summary

Portugal closing in on national fibre coverage

Portugal has a medium-sized telecom market with a strong mobile sector and a growing broadband customer base focussed on the delivery of fibre-based services. During the last few years the country has seen improving economic growth, following several years of austerity measures. Revenue among some operators remains under some strain, though investments in network upgrades are continuing in an effort to attract customers to high-end services.

Portugal’s broadband penetration has grown steadily in recent years, largely the result of joint efforts between the regulator and the key market operators which have invested in significant infrastructure upgrades. These operators are also focussed on fibre-based services, resulting in a migration of subscribers from DSL infrastructure. Under the ownership of the Altice Group, Altice Portugal is focussed on FttP, aiming to cover 5.3 million premises by 2020, and providing national coverage.

The cable sector has also shifted towards fibre, with the principal cableco NOS investing in fibre rather than DOCSIS upgrades. In addition, Vodafone Portugal provides fibre to about two-thirds of premises. Much of the growth in the fibre segment has resulted from shared infrastructure deals, including that between Vodafone and NOS. the government has also supported two open-access wholesale networks being built by dstelecom and Fibroglobal.

The mobile market is dominated by the incumbent Altice Portugal though it remains under pressure from the other network operators Vodafone Portugal and NOS. The MVNO market remains largely undeveloped, partly because network operators have their own low-cost brands. Collectively, MVNOs have about 2.1% share of the market.

Population coverage by 3G infrastructure is universal and so most investment has been directed to LTE and to incremental upgrades to network infrastructure. Operators have trialled 5G technologies, with a view to launching commercial services in late 2020.

This report introduces the major elements of the Portuguese telecom market, presenting statistics on the fixed telephony sector as well as an analysis of the major market players. Additional information is provided on the key regulatory issues, noting the status of interconnection, local loop unbundling, number portability and carrier preselection. The report also covers the fixed and fixed-wireless broadband markets, providing subscriber forecasts to 2023. In addition, the report profiles the mobile market, including statistics on network operators, a review of the key regulatory issues, a snapshot of the consumer market, and an analysis of mobile data services and technologies.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments:

Altice Portugal ramps up fibre roll out, aiming for 5.3 million connected premises by 2020;
Vodafone developing on fibre-network sharing agreement with NOS, retails 1Gb/s devices for customers;
Fibre subscriber base grows 24% in 2018;
Regulator sets schedule for release of 700MHz spectrum for 5G use;
Vodafone achieves 1Gb/s downlink speeds in LTE-A trials;
Decline in SMS traffic in wake of messaging alternatives;
Altice Portugal to replace copper network with FttP by 2020, reports continuing revenue growth in Q1 2019;
Regulator imposes wholesale tariff cuts for fibre access
Report update includes the regulator’s market data to Q4 2018, telcos’ operating and financial data to Q1 2019, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Altice Portugal (MEO), NOS (Optimus, Zon Multimedia), Vodafone Portugal, CTT, Lycamobile, Sonaecom, Cabovisão.

Henry Lancaster
July 2019

Key statistics
Country overview
COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Mobile devices
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Overview

Regulatory environment

Historic overview
Regulatory authority
Privatisation
Interconnect
Access
Fibre access
Carrier PreSelection (CPS)
Number Portability (NP)
Wholesale Line Rental (WLR)

Fixed network operators

Introduction
Altice Portugal
Oni Communications
Sonaecom

Novis

AR Telecom

Jazztel (historic)

Telecommunications infrastructure

National telecom network

Next Generation Networks (NGNs)

International infrastructure

2Africa submarine cable

Data centres

Broadband market

Introduction and statistical overview

Market analysis
Broadband statistics

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks

NOS
Nowo (Cabovisão)

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

PT Portugal (MEO)
Sonaecom

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP)
Other fixed broadband services

Broadband over Powerline (BPL)
Wireless broadband

Mobile communications

Market analysis
Mobile statistics

General statistics

Mobile infrastructure

5G
4G (LTE)
3G

Machine-to-Machine (M2M)
Internet-of-Things (IoT)
Mobile voice
Mobile data

Short Message Service (SMS)
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS)

Mobile broadband
Regulatory issues

Spectrum regulations and spectrum auctions
Roaming
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)
Network sharing

Major mobile operators

MEO
Vodafone Portugal
NOS (Zon Optimus)
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

Mobile content and applications

M-payments

Appendix – Historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Portugal – 2018
Table 2 – Cumulative ported fixed-line numbers – 2009 – 2018
Table 3 – Fixed-telephony service revenue – 2015 – 2018
Table 4 – Total fixed-telephony service revenue – 2012 – 2018
Table 5 – Sonaecom financial data – 2006 – 2017
Table 6 – Sonaecom financial data (old format) – 2006 – 2012
Table 7 – Sonaecom fixed-line subscribers by sector (historic) – 2008 – 2012
Table 8 – Fixed line telephony subscribers – 2011 – 2018
Table 9 – International internet bandwidth – 2006 – 2016
Table 10 – Multiband auction results – 2012
Table 11 – MTRs – 2009 – 2012; 2016 – 2018
Table 12 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1999 – 2009
Table 13 – Historic - Internet users and penetration – 2000 – 2009
Table 14 – Fixed broadband subscribers by type – 2000 – 2008
Table 15 – Fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2000 – 2008
Table 16 – Share of broadband accesses by operator (old format) – 2010 – 2014
Table 17 – Historic - Broadband subscriber annual change year-on-year – 2002 – 2009
Table 18 – Fixed-line and mobile broadband traffic per month per customer – 2008 – 2017
Table 19 – Proportion of broadband subscribers by data rate (Mb/s) – 2011 – 2016
Table 20 – Mobile subscribers and penetration – 2000 – 2009
Table 21 – Accumulated mobile number portings – 2002 – 2008
Table 22 – Outgoing mobile calls and traffic volume – 2002 – 2009
Table 23 – Mobile broadband revenue – 2007 – 2015

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Change in pre-selection, call-by-call and VoIP connections – 2009 – 2018
Chart 2 – Increase in fixed direct telephone customers and penetration – 2009 – 2018
Chart 3 – Decline in Altice Portugal’s share of direct access customers – 2005 – 2018
Chart 4 – Change in multiplay services revenue – 2015 – 2018
Chart 5 – Decline in fixed-telephony traffic – 2012 – 2018
Chart 6 – Evolution in the share of fixed-line access installations by operator – 2012 – 2018
Chart 7 – Change in Altice Portugal’s fixed accesses by sector – 2017 – 2019
Chart 8 – Development of Altice Portugal’s financials – 2014 – 2019
Chart 9 – Altice Portugal’s revenue by service – 2017 – 2019
Chart 10 – Sonaecom financial data – 2006 – 2017
Chart 11 – Evolution of NOS financial data – 2012 – 2019
Chart 12 – Change in NOS subscriber base by platform – 2012 – 2019
Chart 13 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2005 – 2020
Chart 14 – Change in the number and type of analogue and digital access lines – 2005 – 2018
Chart 15 – Development of VoIP and mobile voice accesses – 2013 – 2018
Chart 16 – Fixed-line multiplay revenue – 2015 – 2018
Chart 17 – Development of fixed broadband subscriber growth and penetration – 2009 – 2023
Chart 18 – Evolution in broadband subscribers by access type – 2009 – 2018
Chart 19 – Proportion of broadband subscribers by access type – 2007 – 2018
Chart 20 – Broadband subscriber annual change year-on-year – 2009 – 2018
Chart 21 – Evolution of fixed broadband penetration by platform – 2007 – 2018
Chart 22 – Share of broadband accesses by operator (new format) – 2011 – 2018
Chart 23 – Evolution of fixed-line and mobile broadband traffic – 2008 – 2018
Chart 24 – Cable DOCSIS3.0 connected premises – 2010 – 2017
Chart 25 – Growth in NOS cable broadband subscribers – 2004 – 2019
Chart 26 – Change in MEO broadband subscribers by platform – 2016 – 2019
Chart 27 – Growth in FttP/B connected premises – 2010 – 2017
Chart 28 – Growth in the number of FttX subscribers – 2008 – 2018
Chart 29 – Vodafone fixed-line broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2019
Chart 30 – Evolution of mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2010 - 2023
Chart 31 – Development of mobile sector revenue – 2015 – 2018
Chart 32 – Steady market share among mobile operators – 2004 – 2018
Chart 33 – Change in outgoing mobile calls and traffic volume – 2009 – 2018
Chart 34 – Change in mobile prepaid subscribers, proportion prepaid – 20010 – 2018
Chart 35 – Decline in mobile ARPU – 2010 – 2019
Chart 36 – Long-term drop in 3G video calls and traffic – 2007 – 2017
Chart 37 – Strong growth in M2M subscriptions – 2012 – 2018
Chart 38 – M2M sessions and traffic – 2013 – 2017
Chart 39 – Continuing strong growth in mobile internet traffic – 2007 – 2018
Chart 40 – Decline in SMS messages sent annually – 2009 – 2018
Chart 41 – Decline in SMS messages per subscriber sent quarterly (Q4) – 2007 – 2018
Chart 42 – Decline in MMS messages per subscriber – 2007 – 2017
Chart 43 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2009 – 2023
Chart 44 – Roaming in call traffic volume and messages – 2009 – 2018
Chart 45 – Evolution of MEO’s mobile subscriber base – 2006 – 2019
Chart 46 – Change in MEO’s mobile revenue – 2010 – 2019
Chart 47 – Change in MEO’s revenue by quarter – 2016 – 2019
Chart 48 – Change in Vodafone Portugal subscribers, proportion prepaid – 2006 – 2019
Chart 49 – Vodafone monthly ARPU: prepaid, contract and blended – 2009 – 2019
Chart 50 – Change in Vodafone financial data (year to Mar) – 2007 – 2019
Chart 51 – Evolution in NOS’s mobile subscriber base – 2009 – 2019

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – 2Africa submarine cable
Exhibit 2 – 2Africa landing stations

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2019 Portugal - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Portugal closing in on national fibre coverage

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Country overview

COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Broadband market

Mobile communications

Appendix – Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views