As at the end of June, the fixed Internet access service in Portugal had around 1.68 million customers, a rise of 1.9% compared to the previous quarter and of 9% in comparison to the same quarter of the previous year.
The number of customers using dial-up access continued to decline, possibly as a result of migration to broadband. In this quarter the number of dial-up customers stood at 121 thousand, 15 thousand less than in the previous quarter. Year-on-year dial-up accesses have fallen by around 42%.
The majority of Internet access service customers use broadband, representing around 93% of all customers and reaching 1.56 million at the end of June. Over the quarter from April to June, 47 thousand customers signed up to broadband, 3.1% more than in the previous quarter and 17% more than in the same quarter of 2006.
ADSL has been the principle broadband Internet access technology since the end of 2004, representing 62% of the total (971 thousand customers). Cable modem is used by 37% of customers (576 thousand customers).
Over the second quarter of this year the number of ADSL customers increased by 2.6% and year-on-year by 17.8%, while those subscribing to cable modem increased by 3.7% over the quarter and 14.7% year-on-year.
In June, the penetration rate of broadband fixed Internet access stood at 14.7 per 100 inhabitants, 0.4% up on the figure recorded in the previous quarter and approximately 2.1% higher than the rate recorded for the same period of the previous year.
Grupo PT's share of broadband customers continued to be eroded. It stood at 70.6%, 0.3% below the previous quarter and 3.1% below the value seen in the same quarter of 2006.
Between April and June around 53 percent of new broadband customers, subscribed to the services of alternative providers.
The increase seen in the customer shares of new broadband providers was in the large part supported by unbundled local loops, reflecting the improved conditions of the Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) offer.
In June ANACOM carried out an international comparison of broadband access prices which covered fixed broadband residential offers available in 13 countries of the European Union. According to the comparison made, the average price of 4 Mbps offers in Portugal is around 35% below the average of the countries considered, and is in fact the fourth lowest.
The price of this type of offer fell by around 31% between June 2005 and June 2007.
Consult:
- Postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=277884
