Portuguese pay TV sector benefits from fibre offers

Portugal’s pay TV sector experienced a marginal increase to its subscriber base in Q1 2021.

According to ANACOM, there were 4.3 million subscribers to subscription TV services in Portugal at the end of Q1. This is up 153,000 (3.7%) from the same period in 2020.

The report notes that the growth could largely be attributed to FTTH offers, with this category 285,000 subscribers to a total of 2.3 million – an increase of 14.4%. These offers served to reinforce optical fibre’s position as the principal form of access in Portugal, a position it has held since 2018.

Fibre represented 53.1% of total subscribers, followed by cable television, with 30.5%; satellite television (DTH) with 10.3%; and ADSL with 6.1%.

In terms of operators, MEO held the largest share of pay TV subscribers with 40.3% of the total market. This was followed by Grupo NOS (38.5%), Vodafone (17.6%) and NOWO (3.5%). For the residential segment, Grupo NOS maintained the highest share (39.5%), followed by MEO (38.8%), Vodafone (17.9%) and NOWO (3.8%).