There were 2.6 million fixed Internet accesses in Portugal as at the end of December, increasing 7.2% compared to the same period of 2012 and by 2.3% over the previous quarter. Meanwhile, 3.9 million people made actual use of the mobile Internet, which represents an increase of 12.2% compared to the same quarter of 2012 and an increase of 7.7% compared to the previous quarter.
The main technology used for fixed broadband Internet access continues to be ADSL (42.8% of the total), followed by cable modem (37.9%) and Internet over optical fibre - FTTH/B (17.9%). Optical fibre was largest contributor to the growth reported in the number of accesses, growing 26.5% year-on-year and 7.3% quarter-on-quarter. Other forms of access (leased lines, satellite and LTE at a fixed location), while making up a small proportion of total accesses (1.4%), were the second largest contributors to the reported growth.
As at the end of 2013, about 90.1% of customers of the Internet access service had acquired the service as part of a bundle of services.
Grupo PT has seen its share of fixed accessed fall to 50.5% - a decline of around 0.6 percentage points compared to the previous quarter. Grupo ZON Optimus reported a 36.2% share of accesses, also 0.6 points below its share reported in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, for the third consecutive quarter, Vodafone was the provider that added the largest number of subscribers in net terms, reporting a share of 6.5 percent at the end of the quarter (an increase of 1.4% compared to the previous quarter).
As regards provider shares of active mobile broadband customers, TMN had a share of 45.4% of customers, followed by Vodafone and Grupo ZON Optimus with 32.6% and 21.8%, respectively.
Broadband Internet access traffic increased by 11.3% during the quarter, on the back of an increase in fixed broadband traffic (representing about 96.9% of all traffic) and grew by 19.6% in year-on-year terms. Grupo ZON Optimus is responsible for 45.1% of fixed Internet traffic, followed by PT with 43.3%.
Mobile Internet traffic fell 4.3% during the quarter - with cards/modems responsible for 80% of traffic and smartphones 20%. Compared to the same quarter of 2012, traffic rose by 8.6%. Grupo ZON Optimus is responsible for 41.5% of traffic, followed by TMN with 34.7% and Vodafone with 23.7%.
At the end of 2013, total revenues from the fixed Internet access service (stand-alone and bundles that include this service) totalled 1.041 billion euros (increasing 5.5% compared to the same period of 2012).
Over the same period, revenues from the mobile Internet access service totalled 346 million euros, 0.5% lower than reported over the same period of 2012.
Consult the statistical report:
- Internet Access Service - 4th quarter 2013 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1191979
