At the end of the first quarter of 2005 there were 10.6 million mobile telephone users in Portugal, 2.7% more than in the previous quarter. In year-on-year terms the customer-bases increased by 7.9%.
This figure puts the service's penetration rate at 101.6%, placing Portugal among the European Union countries with a penetration rate above 100%. This may be explained by the fact that many users hold cards from more than one operator, and also by the use of machine-to-machine solutions. The European Union average stands at 90.6%.
Some 8,662,000 users hold prepaid cards, 81.4% of the total, and 1,980,000 are subscription customers.
During the first three months of the year, the mobile operators' customers made 1.51 billion calls, 1.3% less than in the previous quarter and 2.9% more than in the same period of the previous year. The lower number of calls is explained by the seasonal nature of land mobile service. In the same period, the mobile telephone users received 1.54 billion calls.
Some 67.5% of calls originating in the mobile networks are made within one's own network, 21.5% originate in the mobile network and are to other mobile operators, 8.1% originate in the mobile networks and are to fixed networks, and 2.8% of total calls are to international networks.
During the quarter under review all types of calls made and received in mobile networks registered a drop, with calls to and from the fixed network standing out, along with calls to international networks.
In year-on-year terms there were positive variations for all types of calls, except mobile-fixed and fixed-mobile calls.
In terms of minutes, originated traffic increased by 1.3% during the quarter, totalling 2.73 billion minutes. The number of minutes terminating in mobile networks rose by 1.4%, totalling 2.81 billion minutes.
Of total traffic minutes, 68.7% pertain to traffic generated within the networks, 19.8% originate in an operator's network and is to other mobile networks, and 7.2% of total minutes are to the fixed networks.
According to ANACOM data, the growth of traffic in minutes is supported by the growth of traffic routed between mobile networks, as all other traffic types diminished.
Average call length rose to 108 seconds in the first quarter, two more seconds than in the previous quarter. This trend is driven by calls within one's own network, which saw their average length grow by three seconds.
During the same period 625 million written messages were sent, 8.4% less than in the previous quarter. Once gain the difference is explained by seasonality. Each subscriber sent an average of 20 SMS per month, marking the rising trend registered in this area.
Regarding trunking mobile service, there were 8,090 subscribers at the end of the first quarter, 65% of whom use analogue technology, 25% Tetra technology and 10% CDMA.
The service registered growth of 1.8% over the previous quarter and 10.6% in year-on-year terms.
Consult:
- Postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=277884
