ANACOM - Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações is to reinforce the quality of statistical information that it discloses to the market, with the introduction of two new indicators in relation to information on the Internet access service. As such, the regulator has begun to disclose, in data referring to the second quarter of 2012, operator market share in terms of "active mobile broadband customers" and in terms of "mobile broadband Internet traffic". This is useful information that is important to the market.
According to the second quarter statistical report on the Internet access service, there were around 2.89 million users of mobile services in Portugal who made actual use of the Internet with mobile broadband (1.04 million through cards/modems), falling 0.3% from the previous quarter. Year-on-year, the number of mobile broadband users has grown by 12%.
At the end of June, TMN had a 41.3% share of active mobile broadband customers, followed by Vodafone with 37.2% and Optimus with 20.1%. In the same period, ZON had 1.4% of active customers.
In terms of use of cards/modems, TMN's share of customers is 39.7%, followed by Vodafone with 28.4%, Optimus with 28.1% and ZON with 3.8%.
Over the same period, Internet access traffic from mobile accesses saw annual growth of 17.8%, despite falling 7.3% on the quarter. By operator, Optimus has the highest share of Internet access traffic with 44.6%, followed by TMN with 33.4% and Vodafone with 19.5%. ZON was responsible for 2.5% of the traffic generated.
Despite the annual growth reported in traffic generated by mobile users, mobile broadband remains a small part of total broadband traffic (3.8% as at end of June). Meanwhile, fixed broadband accounts for 96.2% of generated traffic and continues to have high levels of growth, 34.9% year-on-year and 4.5% over the quarter. Grupo PT and ZON have the highest shares of fixed broadband traffic (45.3% and 36.7%, respectively). These operators also have the highest shares when it comes to fixed broadband accesses - PT with 50.7% and ZON with 32.6%.
At the end of June, there were about 2.3 million fixed Internet access customers in Portugal, 26 thousand more than in the previous quarter, reflecting growth of 1.1%. Compared to the same quarter of 2011, the reported increase is 6.3%.
ADSL remains the main technology for fixed broadband Internet access, with 47% of total accesses, followed by cable modem with 39.6%. Internet over optical fibre (FTTH B) accounts for 13.3% of accesses and is the technology which has highest level of new take up, increasing by 11.7% over the quarter and by 76.5% in year-on-year terms.
In June, the penetration rate of broadband Internet access was 21.7 per 100 inhabitants in the case of fixed access and 27.2 per 100 inhabitants in the case of mobile access with actual use.
Consult:
- Internet Access Service - 2nd quarter 2012 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1136107
