At the end of 2002 the offer of leased lines was essentially provided by PT Comunicações, while other service operators had a lesser presence in the market.
The price evolution verified in this market is not substantially different from the historic operator?s price evolution. In overall terms, from 1998 to 2003 the evolution of prices for leased lines of PT Comunicações was basically determined by the price evolution of the fee for digital lines. The main tariff changes took place in the year 1999 and in 2003. The latter resulted from the intervention of ICP-ANACOM, begun in 2002, which was followed by a 38 percent drop in the value of the overall lines basket. Beyond the monthly fee prices, this variation also reflects reduction of the price for digital line installations. During the period between 1998 and 2003, the prices for this service dropped by about 47 percent.
The price of the overall lines basket (analogic, digital 64 Kbps, digital 2 Mbps and digital 34 Mbps) in Portugal is 29 percent less than the EU average.
Regarding analogic lines, the price of the national basket is about 8 percent above the average for equivalent baskets in the remaining European historic operators. However, the weight of these lines in the overall basket is slight. The price of the digital lines basket (including 64 Kbps, 2 Mbps and 34 Mbps capacities) is 30 percent less than the average prices in the other EU countries, and is the second most economic.
The simple average of prices for international lines practiced by PT Comunicações is less than the equivalent average verified for the remaining operators, in the case of 64 kbps and 2 Mbps digital lines, by 48 percent and 30 percent respectively, and is more in the case of analogic lines (+10 percent).
In international terms, leased lines service quality compares favourably with the equivalent provision in other countries.
