Fibre fuels Q2 pay-TV growth in Portugal
September 2, 2016
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The number of pay-TV subscribers in Portugal reached 3.6 million at the end of the second quarter of 2016, representing a 4.7 per cent growth on the same period in 2015.
According to figures presented by the National Communications Authority (Anacom), the growth was fuelled by offers based on fibre-optic technology, whose number of subscribers increased by 205,000 year-on-year.
However, cable remains as the dominant pay-TV distribution technology, used by 37.5 per cent of total subscribers. Fibre (FTTH/B) was second with 25.7 per cent, followed by xDSL (20.2 per cent) and DTH/satellite (16.8 per cent).
In Q2 2016, nearly one fifth (18.1 per cent) of pay-TV households had access to premium channels, while 77.5 per cent had more than 80 TV channels.
At the end of June, 88.8 per cent of pay-TV subscribers had the service as part of a package.
In terms of market share, NOS continues as leader with 43.7 per cent of total pay-TV subscribers, followed by Meo/PT Portugal (39.7 per cent), Vodafone Portugal (11.7 per cent) and Cabovisão (4.8 per cent).
Total revenues from the pay-TV service (stand-alone and bundled) amounted to €895 million (+9.2 per cent).
In addition, 3.4 per cent of users aged 10 years and over subscribed to streaming on demand services such as Netflix, Fox Play and NPlay.