Fibre takes pole position as TV access technology in Portugal

Fibre is now the principal way of accessing pay TV services in Portugal, with 1.47 million subscribers or 38.2% of the country’s total, according to regulator ANACOM.

Cable comes second, with 1.34 million subscribers or 34.9% of the total, followed by DTH satellite with 13.6%. ADSL is now only used by 13.4% of pay TV customers.

TV subscriptions via FTTH and FTTB networks grew by 24.1% in the first half of the year, enabling the technology to overtake its rivals.

Overall, Portugal had 3.9 million pay TV customers in June, 131,000 more than for the same period last year, with growth being fuelled by the 286,000 subscribers who signed up for fibre in the same period.

NOS was the leading pay TV provider with a 41.9% share, followed by Meo with 38.9%, Vodafone with 14.7% and Nowo with 4.4%.

Some 15.4% of pay TV households had access to premium channels, up 0.4% in a year, while 78.4% had access to over 100 channels, up 5.2%.