At the end of 2nd quarter 2013 (2Q13), there were approximately 2.46 million fixed Internet accesses in Portugal, giving a growth rate of 1.5 percent. Compared to second quarter 2012 (2Q12), the number of accesses has grown by 6.5 percent.
Meanwhile, there were 3.55 million users of mobile services who used actually used mobile broadband to access the Internet, which represents an increase of 0.7 percent compared to 1Q13. Of total users, 875,000 gained access through cards/modem.
As at the end of June, the penetration rate of the Internet access service at a fixed location was 23.3 per 100 inhabitants, while the penetration rate for mobile access with actual use 33.6 per 100 inhabitants. Penetration of the fixed broadband service (residential customers) was reported at 51.5 per 100 private households and 35.5 per 100 dwellings.
About 88.7 percent of customers of the internet access service using fixed broadband had acquired the service as part of a bundle of services, and 8.5 percent were customers with double-play bundles (with television or fixed telephone) and 80.2 percent had triple-play (television + fixed telephone), quadruple-play (television + fixed telephone + mobile broadband) or quintuple-play (television + fixed telephone + mobile broadband + mobile voice) bundles.
ADSL remains the main technology providing fixed broadband internet access with 43.9 percent of total accesses, followed by cable modem with 39 percent. Internet over optical fibre (FTTH/B) made up 16.6 percent of total accesses and is the fastest growing means of access, growing 6.11 percent in this period and 33.4 percent compared to 2Q12.
In this quarter, about 24.7 percent of mobile broadband Internet accesses were provided by cards/USB modems used to access the Internet on computers. The growth in mobile broadband has mainly been driven by an increase in the number of smartphones.
With regard to provider shares of fixed broadband accesses, Grupo Portugal Telecom (Grupo PT) reported a share of 51.6 percent, the same as in the previous quarter and increasing by about 10.2 percentage points since the spin-off of PT Multimédia (November 2007).
As regards provider shares of active mobile broadband customers, TMN had a share of 41.9 percent of customers, followed by Vodafone and Optimus with 37.8 and 18.4 percent, respectively.
In 2Q13, broadband Internet access traffic decreased by about 0.2 percent, led mainly by developments in fixed broadband traffic, which decreased by 0.1 percentage points to represent approximately 96.8 percent of total broadband Internet traffic. Mobile Internet access traffic fell by 4.2 percent. Average traffic per broadband Internet access at a fixed location was 38.9 GB per month, while the traffic generated per mobile broadband customer with actual use was 0.9 GB per month (3.1 GB per month in the case of cards/modem).
In 2Q13, the majority of fixed Internet access users (81.9 percent) had a contracted theoretical maximum speed in excess of 10 Mbps. About 66.9 percent had access exceeding 20 Mbps and 16.4 percent had access exceeding 100 Mbps.
From January to June 2013, the fixed Internet access service (stand-alone and bundles of services which include this service) generated total revenues of 514 million euros, representing an increase of 4.6 percent compared to 2Q12. Revenues from the mobile Internet access service amounted to 175 million euros by the end of 2Q13, 1.2 percent more than reported in the same period of 2012.
According to Marktest's ''Barómetro Telecomunicações'' (Telecommunications Barometer), the average monthly charge payable for Internet access service in 2Q13, where billed separately, was 21.1 euros for fixed Internet (4.2 percent more than in previous quarter) and 14.8 euros for mobile Internet using cards/modem. The monthly fee for Internet access via mobile phone in the same period was 11.5 euros. Average monthly expenditure by households on bundled offers including the Internet access service ranged from 50.3 euros in the case of triple-play bundles (FTS-fixed telephone services + IAS-Internet access services + STVS-subscription TV service) to 28.7 euros in the case of double-play (FTS+IAS). The average monthly charge for a bundle with STVS+IAS was 45 euros.
Consult the statistical report:
- Internet Access Service - 2nd quarter 2013 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1173785
