As at the end of the first quarter of 2007, there were 12,4 million subscribers to the Mobile Telephone Service, 1.2% more than in the previous quarter and 7.1% more than in the same quarter of 2006 - meanwhile the service's penetration rose to 117.1%.
Holders of pre-paid cards (9,808 million) represented 79.3% of subscribers and increased by 0.4 % over the quarter, corresponding to 38 thousand additional customers. Meanwhile subscription plans (2,568 million) were the biggest contributor to subscriber growth over the quarter, with an increase seen to the order of 5% compared to the previous quarter, corresponding to 112 thousand new subscribers.
According to the ICP-ANACOM's Electronic Communications Consumer Survey, carried out in December 2006, around 87.7% of residents in Portugal are MST customers.
The difference between the penetration rate of 117.1%, which results from data provided to ANACOM by the operators, and the answers to the survey is due to various factors, specifically the fact that there are users who have more than one card for accessing the service. According to the survey, around 15% of users had 2 active cards, while 2.5% had 3 or more cards. Other factors contributing to this discrepancy are the activation of new SIM cards used exclusively for Internet access and data services; the existence of active cards used in machines, equipment and vehicles (mobile payment terminals, alarm equipment, security, telemetry and telematics, etc.); and the existence of cards for corporate use.
Contrary to the trend seen in the number of subscribers, the first quarter of 2007 saw a decline in all traffic indicators in comparison to the previous quarter, while registering increases in comparison to the same quarter of the previous year. This negative quarterly change results from seasonal factors connected to the Christmas holiday period, which gives rise to temporary increases in all traffic types in the 4th quarter of each year.
Looking at the average duration of calls, it can be seen that in this quarter that calls to and from international networks have the longest duration, around 3 minutes (173 seconds for originating calls and 190 seconds for terminating calls). Excluding calls to and from international networks, the average length of calls fell to 114 seconds for originating calls and 115 seconds for terminating calls.
In the same period, mobile service subscribers made, on average, around 45 calls per month, of which 30 were to the caller's own operator network. As far as SMSs are concerned, there was a significant rise - 15.2% over the previous quarter and 49.4% over the same quarter of the previous year, with the total number of messages reaching 3,9 billion.
The average number of messages sent per subscriber, was recorded as 105 per month for this period - an average of around 3.5 messages per day.
Consult:
- Postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=277884
