ANACOM reports that there were 201 thousand Internet access connections in Portugal supported over optical fibre (FTTH/B) as at the end of 3rd quarter 2011, making up 9 percent of all accesses and representing an increase of 15.7 percent over the previous quarter and an increase of 94.5 percent over the same quarter of 2010. During the quarter, three out of every five new fixed broadband accesses were supported by this technology.
In total, as at the end of 3Q11, there were around 2.2 million fixed Internet access customers in Portugal, including 2.17 million broadband accesses - an increase of 1.9 percent over the previous quarter and increasing 7.2 percent over the same quarter of 2010.
In the same period, there were 2.7 million mobile broadband users reporting actual use of the service, an increase of 4.4 percent compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 9.5 percent compared to 3rd quarter 2010. Of this number, 1.1 million users accessed the Internet via cards/modem.
The main technology used for fixed broadband Internet access continues to be ADSL, which represents 50 percent of the total, 12.8 percentage points below the peak of 4th quarter 2006. Cable modem is used by 40.1% of fixed broadband customers, attracting 19.2% of new subscriptions to the service over the quarter.
The "others" category, which includes offers based on leased lines and FWA, represents only one percent of total customers, declining by 8.6 percent over the previous quarter.
With regard to fixed broadband customer, Grupo PT's share of customers was reported at 48.5 percent, 0.7 percentage points more than in the previous quarter.
In terms of mobile broadband access via cards/modem, TMN's share of customers is 40.9 percent (declining 2.5 percentage points over the previous quarter); TMN is followed by Optimus and Vodafone with 30.7 (+1 percentage point) and 24.4 percent (+1.4 percentage points), respectively.
The number of cards actually used for Internet access fell for the fourth consecutive quarter. meanwhile, the evolution reported in the shares of customers has been strongly influenced by the e-iniciativas programme; as such the shares reported for each provider may partly reflect the different commitments that they have taken on under the tender for the allocation of UMTS licenses for the purpose of promoting the information society.
Broadband Internet access traffic grew by 6.4 percent in the third quarter, which can be explained in the most part by the growth in fixed broadband traffic (6.3 percent) which represents approximately 95.6 percent of total traffic. Mobile broadband traffic increased by 8.4 percent, while traffic generated by mobile users with connections through cards/modem represents approximately 95 percent of all mobile broadband Internet access traffic.
Over the first nine months of 2011, revenues from the fixed Internet access service and from bundles including the service totalled 722.4 million euros. Of this value, around 144.8 million euros (20 percent) corresponds to stand-alone offers and 67 million euros (9.3 percent) to double-play offers, while the remaining 510.1 million euros (70.6 percent) corresponds to triple-play offers.
Meanwhile, revenues from the mobile internet access service totalled 225 million euros in the period being reported, declining 21.8 percent over the same period of 2010.
Consult the statistical report:
- Internet Access Service - 3rd quarter 2011 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1107573
