Pay TV boost for Portugal Telecom, Brazil’s Oi refocuses offering

Portugal Telecom’s pay TV base grew by 7.5% in the course of 2013 to 1.315 million subscribers, while the company’s triple-play base increased by 14.3% to 952,000 – representing 45.8% of its customer base. 

The company said its share of the Portuguese pay TV market grew from 39.2% in 2012 to 41.4% in 2013.

Portuguese brand Meo’s pay TV base grew by 3.8% to 1.179 million.

Portugal Telecom’s fibre-to-the-home broadband base grew by 13.5% to 372,000.

Brazilian unit Oi’s pay TV base meanwhile grew by 9.5% year-on-year to 829,000, representing slower growth as the company moved to focus on “quality sales” and prepares for the re-launch of the service this year, with the implementation of a new platform based on the SES 6 satellite.

Portugal Telecom plans to complete its merger with Oi in the second quarter.

Overall, Portugal Telecom saw revenues fall by 5.4% over the year to €2.91 billion and EBITDA fall by 9.9% to €1.16 billion.

However, residential unit revenues grew by 1.3% to €721 million.