The total number of main telephone accesses installed at customer request stood at around 4.2 million at the end of 2nd quarter 2010, corresponding to a penetration rate of approximately 39.9 accesses per 100 inhabitants. Compared to the previous quarter, there was an increase of 1.3 percent in the number of these accesses. In this context, particular note is made of the increase reported in the number of ''other accesses'' (+73.8 percent), which includes VoIP accesses and which increased by around 132 percent. Meanwhile, accesses based on GSM/UMTS technology grew in the same period by 6.6 percent.
In this quarter, there were around 32.4 thousand installed payphones, with a decline seen of 1.5 percent over the previous quarter and a year-on-year decline of 5.9 percent.
Most of the installed accesses continued to belong to companies of the Portugal Telecom Group operating in these markets. At the end of the quarter, the Group held about 61.8 percent of all accesses installed at customer request, 1.2 percentage point less than at the end of the previous quarter and 5.4 percentage points less than a year earlier.
As at the end of 2nd quarter 2010, there were around 3.5 million fixed telephone service customers using direct access, an increase of 2 percent on the previous quarter and an increase of 7 percent on the same quarter of 2009. This trend was significantly driven by packaged offers which combine fixed telephone and cable television and/or Internet as well as the offers from alternative providers based on GSM/UMTS technology.
Meanwhile, the number of indirect access customers using operator pre-selection fell by 6.7 percent, to 127 thousand, the lowest level since 2001. Compared to the same period of the previous year, the number of pre-selection customers fell by 21.4 percent.
With respect to nomadic VoIP customers, at the end of 2nd quarter 2010, there were around 108.2 thousand active customers, representing a decline of 3.1 percent over the previous quarter. It should be noted that since the beginning of 2009, the number of nomadic VoIP customers has been in a downward trend. This decline can be put down to the migration by one operator of a significant set of its customers to other types of voice telephony solutions.
Grupo PT's share of direct access customers has been falling since 2000. In this quarter a further decline of 1.4 percentage points was reported over the previous quarter and 5.4 percentage points over the same quarter of 2009, to 55.3 percent at the end of the quarter.
Total voice traffic originating on the fixed network during 2nd quarter 2010 totalled around 2 billion minutes and 599 million calls. Compared to the previous quarter, and contrary to the trend reported in the number of accesses installed at customer request, the volume of FTS minutes and the volume of calls fell by 1.6 percent and 2.1 percent respectively. Meanwhile, year-on-year, an increase of 1.8 percent was reported in the number of minutes.
In terms of traffic associated with the nomadic VoIP service, it is noted that the significant fall seen over the same period of the previous year is in line with the fall reported in the number of active customers.
Looking at indirect access, in 2nd quarter 2010, it can be seen that 8 percent of the total of voice minutes were originated through indirect access, 0.7 percentage point less than the figure reported in the previous quarter and 2.1 percentage points less than in the same quarter of 2009.
During the quarter being reported, the FTS voice traffic shares of Grupo PT continued to trend downwards (60.6 percent in 2Q10, -0.5 percentage points over the previous quarter).
Consult:
- Fixed Telephone Service - 2nd quarter 2010 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1046936
