At the end of 2nd quarter 2013 (2Q13), there were 16.7 million mobile stations in Portugal eligible to use the mobile service, 0.3 percent fewer than in the previous quarter. Of these, 13 million saw actual use during the period being reported, accounting for 78 percent of total mobile stations and resulting in the lowest value recorded since 1st quarter 2010. Excluding cards/modem and mobile stations associated with machine-to-machine communications (M2M), there were around 11.8 million active mobile stations/user devices with actual use in 2Q13.
As at the end of June, penetration of mobile services was reported at 157.9 per 100 inhabitants. However, the penetration rate in terms of mobile stations with actual use was 123.1 per 100 inhabitants. According to Marktest's Barómetro Telecomunicações (Telecommunications Barometer), 92.5 per cent of the resident population were customers of the mobile service.
There were around 4.2 million mobile broadband users reported in the quarter, a decline of 2.5 percent over 1Q13 and an increase of 6 percent compared to the same quarter of 2012. Users of these services constitute 32.3 percent of total mobile stations with actual use.
In 2Q13, the volume of conversation minutes originating on mobile networks increased by 4.7 percent compared to 1Q13 and 4.1 percent year on year, rising above the upper limit of the forecast range resulting from the trend and estimated seasonal effects.
The average number of minutes per mobile station with actual use (excluding cards/modem and M2M equipment) was an average of 155 per month. Of these, and on average, 119 minutes were on-net minutes and 21 minutes were off-net , 6 were associated with calls to the fixed network, 3 with calls to short/non-geographic numbers and 6 with calls to international networks.
The average duration per call originating on the mobile network (excluding cards/modem) was 148 seconds per call. In 2Q13, an average of 63 calls were made per month and per active mobile station with actual use (excluding cards and M2M equipment). Of these, about 44 were made to the network of the originating provider and 11 to networks of other mobile providers.
In this period, users of the text messaging service (SMS) sent almost 6.8 billion text messages (2.7 percent more than in 1Q13 but 3.4 percent fewer than in 2Q12). An average of 311 messages were sent by users of this service each month (320 in 2Q12), representing about 10 messages per day. Meanwhile, 29.5 million value-added messages were sent, representing 0.4 percent of total messages sent.
The number of users of MMS, video-calls and Mobile TV remains relatively small, and traffic associated with these services declined in the quarter, with the exception of conversation time associated with video-calls which increased 1.6 percent compared to 1Q13 - the first increase since 2Q10.
In 2Q13, the average number of users of the international roaming service outside Portugal represented 7.1 percent of total mobile stations with actual use (excluding cards and M2M equipment).
Roaming out traffic, and particularly internet traffic, increased compared to 2Q12. This trend may be associated with the entry into force of the third roaming regulation that imposed a reduction in voice and SMS prices and, for the first time, stipulated a price reduction for data services (Internet and multimedia messages).
Roaming in traffic increased, as is customary at this time of the year. Compared to 2Q12, there were significant increases in Internet traffic.
Revenues derived from services provided to end-users in 2Q13 were reported at about 1.042 billion euros, representing a year-on-year decline of 7.9 percent.
Consult the statistical report:
- Mobile Services - 2nd quarter 2013 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1173360