In December 2006 there were about 1.617 million (fixed) Internet access service customers in Portugal, 10.9% more than in the previous year. Regarding the previous quarter, there was a 3.1% growth. Of the total figure, 1.46 million customers used broadband, a 23% growth compared to a year before. During the year's last quarter, 76 thousand customers subscribed to broadband, 5.5% more than in the previous quarter.
Of the customers using broadband, around 918 thousand customers access the Internet using ADSL technology, while about 538 thousand had broadband via cable modem. The number of customers with other types of access reached 4.7 thousand customers.
The number of ADSL customers increased 5.7% during the quarter, and the number of cable modem customers increased about 5%. The predominance of ADSL remains, since by the end of the quarter it accounted for about 62.8% of total broadband accesses.
In this period, there were 1.33 million residential customers, 2.9% more than in the previous quarter and 8.6% more than a year before. Of these customers, about 1.188 million were broadband customers.
Regarding transmission speeds, there is also a transition from narrow band to broadband, with a 16% quarterly fall in the amount of residential customers using narrow band and a 5.7% increase in broadband customers. These figures have an annual variation of -44.8% and 23.9%, respectively.
ADSL continued to be the preferred means of Internet access in the residential segment. At the end of December there were 674 thousand customers with ADSL access, standing for 56.7% of all residential broadband customers. Access via cable modem stood for 43.1% of all broadband customers, with 512 thousand customers by the end of this period.
In the non-residential segment there were around 289 thousand customers, 4% more than in the previous quarter and 22.6% above the figure recorded a year before.
ADSL technology continues to be the main Internet access technology in the non-residential segment. At the end of the 4th quarter of 2006, there were 244 thousand ADSL access customers, as opposed to 25 thousand using cable modems, 17 thousand using dial up access and about 3 thousand with dedicated line accesses.
By the end of the 4th quarter the fixed access broadband penetration rate, in terms of total customers per total population, stood at 13.8 per 100 inhabitants, 0.7 per cent above the previous quarter and about 2.6% more than a year before.
Taking mobile accesses into account, which were around 174 thousand at the end of the 2nd quarter, standing for a penetration rate of about 1.6 per 100 inhabitants, broadband penetration rate in Portugal should be above 15.5 per 100 inhabitants.
PT Group's share of broadband customers continues to fall, with 71.6% of customers during this period, 0.9 per cent below the previous quarter and 7 per cent less than a year before. Within the PT Group, PT.com has a 44.1% share, TV Cabo 23.2%, PT Prime 2.8%, TV Cabo Madeirense 1.4%, and PT Wi-Fi 0.1%.
Regarding alternative operators, Cabovisão has 10.1% of fixed broadband customers, followed by Novis, with 9%, Onitelecom, with 6%, and the remaining alternative providers, with 3.3% of the customers.
The growth in the shares of the new broadband providers is mainly supported on unbundled local loops, reflecting the improvement in the conditions of the Local Loop unbundling offer made by ANACOM.
During this quarter, 45% of new broadband customers subscribed the services of alternative providers.
| Broadband access customer | 2005 | 2006 | |||
| 4th Quarter | 1st Quarter | 2nd Quarter | 3rd Quarter | 4th Quarter | |
| PT Group | 78,6% | 75,9% | 73,7% | 72,6% | 71,6% |
| PT.COM | 47,3% | 46,0% | 45,2% | 44,8% | 44,1% |
| CATV - TV Cabo | 27,7% | 26,1% | 24,4% | 23,6% | 23,2% |
| PT Prime | 2,1% | 2,4% | 2,6% | 2,8% | 2,8% |
| Cabo TV Madeirense | 1,5% | 1,4% | 1,4% | 1,4% | 1,4% |
| PT WI-FI | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0,0% | 0,1% |
| Alternative operators | 21,4% | 24,1% | 26,3% | 27,4% | 28,4% |
| Cabovisão | 10,5% | 10,3% | 10,1% | 10,0% | 10,1% |
| Novis | 5,0% | 6,9% | 8,0% | 8,6% | 9,0% |
| ONITELECOM | 3,4% | 4,3% | 5,3% | 5,7% | 6,0% |
| Others alternative operators | 2,5% | 2,7% | 2,9% | 3,2% | 3,3% |
Consult:
- Postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=277884
