In April 2021, seven mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) were registered in Portugal, of which only three offered services to the general public: Lycamobile, Nowo and Onitelecom. While G9 Telecom, Evomédia and Sumamovil were eligible to provide the service, they had not yet started their activity. There has been a very low level of entry into the Portuguese market based on this type of solution, which may suggest a lack of willingness among network operators (MNO) to allow access to their networks.
At the end of 2020, MVNO providers were responsible for around 370 thousand active mobile accesses, which corresponds to only 2.8% of total mobile accesses in Portugal. NOWO is the largest MVNO and the one provider reporting significant growth.
At EU level, Portugal is in 10th position in the European ranking with MVNO mobile accesses representing 2.8% of total mobile accesses, while in four EU countries, the relative weight of MVNO accesses as a proportion of total mobile accesses exceeded 10%, and in the Netherlands, MVNO accesses represented almost a quarter of all mobile accesses.
In 2020, despite its reduced presence in the market, MVNO traffic grew significantly: increasing 28.7%, to 688 million minutes. Of this total, 49 million minutes corresponded to calls made to international networks (-6.8% compared to 2019). Mobile broadband Internet traffic totalled 2 thousand TB, an increase of 34.8% compared to 2019. In the case of data traffic, MVNO traffic represents a small proportion of total traffic (about 0.5% at the end of 2020): average monthly traffic per MVNO Internet access (1 GB) is significantly less than average monthly traffic per MNO access (4.8 GB).
Compared to MNO offers, MVNO offers have competitive prices for certain usage profiles. Lycamobile offers prepaid offers with relatively low traffic allowances and very competitive prices for international calls, especially to certain destinations. NOWO offers standalone mobile services and convergent offers with attributes similar to those of other providers and at generally lower prices.
Revenues from the MVNO service represent 1.6% of total revenues from all services, significantly below the proportion of MVNO mobile accesses (2.8%). Average monthly revenue reported by MVNO providers in 2020 was 4.9 euros, versus 8.4 euros in the case of network operators (MNO).
Pursuit of the MVNO activity in Portugal is subject to authorisation, whereas MVNO access to the networks of mobile operators is subject to free commercial negotiation, with no ex ante access obligations. However, within the framework of the 2011/2012 multi-band auction, MNO providers were made subject to an obligation to negotiate network access. Even so, the current MVNO agreements have resulted from commercial negotiations between the providers and from commitments made in connection with the sale of NOWO and ONI by Altice.
Consult the statistical report:
- MVNO em Portugal - maio de 2021 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1644329
