At the end of 2nd quarter 2015 (2Q15), there were about 16.4 million active mobile stations in Portugal associated with post-paid, pre-paid and combined/hybrid tariff plans (declining -0.2% on the previous quarter and increasing by 1.2% compared to the same quarter of 2014). About 12.8 million of these stations (77.8% of the total) saw actual use in the last month of the quarter (in line with the previous year and falling 0.1% versus the previous quarter).
During 2Q15, there was further migration of subscribers from pre-paid plans to combined/hybrid plans and to post-paid plans, especially those associated with multiple-play offers which include fixed services and the mobile telephone service. As a result of these trends, at the end of the 2Q15, the proportion of pre-paid subscribers was reported as 52.4% (10 percentage points less than a year earlier).
The service had a penetration rate of 158.3 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants. However, the rate of penetration reported for mobile stations with actual use was 123.1 accesses per 100 inhabitants.
At the end of 2Q15, there were 12.6 million users eligible to use typical mobile broadband services, increasing by 0.5% over the previous quarter. Users eligible to use typical mobile broadband services now make up 76.9% of total active mobile stations. Meanwhile, 40.8% of mobile service subscribers actually made use of broadband services (+6.6 percentage points over the same quarter of 2014).
There were 5.2 million active users who actually made use of characteristic 3rd/4th generation services (i.e. Video telephony, broadband data transmission, mobile TV, etc.), increasing 5.2% versus the previous quarter and by 19.4% versus 2Q14. The growth reported in the use of these services (in year-on-year terms) is associated with increased mobile phone Internet penetration (increasing 30.6% versus 2Q14), especially as part of bundles, and is likewise associated with increasing smartphone penetration.
The volume of conversation minutes originated on mobile networks increased by 4.1% compared to 1Q15 and by 10.6% compared to 2Q14. The reported year-on-year growth is due mainly to the growth seen in off-net traffic following the introduction of offers with included calls and the discontinuation of tariff differentiation between on-net and off-net calls, particularly in bundled offers that comprise the mobile service. Average duration per call originating on the mobile network (excluding cards/modems and machine-to-machine (M2M) devices) was reported at 159 seconds per call, increasing by 6 seconds versus 2Q14.
Users of the text messaging service (64.6% of total mobile stations with actual use, excluding Internet access cards and M2M communications equipment) sent 8.7% fewer messages versus 2Q14. Users of this service sent an average of 242 messages per month (versus 258 messages in 2Q14), representing about 8 messages per day. Message traffic has seen a significant reduction due to the emergence of alternative forms of communication.
Consult the statistical report:
- Mobile services - 2nd quarter 2015 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1365778
