Cable television customers increase to 1.33 million - end of 2003

The cable television operators served 1.33 million customers at the end of last year, according to data compiled by the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM). This figure indicates the addition of 72,000 new customers in one year - an increase of 5.7%.

Half of the service subscribers - 50% or 678,000 - live in the Lisbon region. The fastest growth rate was registered in Madeira, where total customers grew to 56,000, 10% more than at the end of the previous year.

The number of cabled households, i.e., those able to receive cable television service, reached 3.5 million during the same period, 3.8% more than at the end of 2002, equivalent to the cabling of 127,000 new houses.

The North region was where cabling progress was fastest, in relative terms, as the number of dwellings prepared to receive the service rose by 5.7% between the fourth quarters of 2002 and 2003.

Cross-referencing of the above data - number of subscribers and cabled houses - indicates that 38% of the households prepared to receive cable television service are effectively customers of same. This rate is higher in the Azores and Madeira, where more than half (70% and 67%, respectively) of cabled households are linked to the service.

Television distribution service by satellite, via DTH technology, complementing cable signal distribution, reached 341,000 customers throughout the country at the end of the year, 18.2% more than in the same period of 2002, due to an increase of 52,000 new customers.

Consult:

Quarterly reports by service http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=277884