Portugal - Key Statistics, Telecom Market and Regulatory Overviews

Portugal has a medium-sized telecom market with a strong mobile sector and a growing broadband customer base well served by both the cable and DSL platforms. The development of digital-TV services has progressed under cautious regulatory guidance, with a licence for digital-service transmission awarded to Portugal Telecom in mid-2008. The difficult economic conditions have seen operator’s domestic revenue fall in recent quarters, with Cogeco selling the flagging Cabovisão in early 2012 for a considerable loss. 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 players including Portugal Telecom and ZON Multimédia. Additional information is provided on the key regulatory issues, noting the status of interconnection, local loop unbundling, number portability and carrier preselection.

Key developments:

PT eliminates special rights granted to the government’s golden shares; AR Telecom exits residential market; ZON Multimedia and Optimus to merge; regulator’s market data to Q2 2012; telcos’ operating and financial data to September 2012; market developments to December 2012.

Companies covered include:

TMN, Optimus, Vodafone, ZON Multimedia.