High-speed network services at fixed locations reached 2.9 million residential customers at the end of the 1st quarter of 2020, corresponding to 9.8% more that in the same period of the previous year, when 12.6% growth was recorded. By region, the most significant increases were recorded in the Centre region (+16%), Azores (+14.9%), Algarve (+14.3%), Alentejo (+14.2%) and North (+10.5%). It should be noted that at least 8 out of every 10 new high-speed network customers chose a service supported by optical fibre (Fibre to the Home - FTTH).
At the end of the March, close to 68.7% of households subscribed to high-speed services at fixed locations, with the metropolitan area of Lisbon (87%), Madeira (77.4%) and Azores (75.4%) presenting penetrations above the average in Portugal (68.7%). The Algarve (63.5%), Centre (56.2%) and North (65.6%), regions (together with Alentejo) in which the penetration of these services is lower, became closer to the average.
It is estimated that, in the 1st quarter, a minimum of around 5.4 million dwellings were cables with a high-speed network, 4.1% more than in the 1st quarter of the previous year. The observed growth, despite being significant, is less than that recorded a year ago (7.2%).
High-speed networks covered 85.5% of dwellings at the end of March, 3.3 percentage points more than at the end of the 1st quarter of 2019. By region, the coverage in the metropolitan area of Lisbon and in the Azores stood above the average. On the other hand, reference is made to the growth of the number of cabled dwellings recorded in the Centre (+9%), Madeira (+8.7%) and Alentejo (+6.9%), regions in which there was a reduction of the asymmetries of coverage in relation to the country's average.
The number of dwellings cabled with optical fibre reached around 5.1 million, 6.8% more than in the same quarter of the previous year (this number grew by 10.6% in the 1st quarter of 2019), having reached a coverage of 80.5%.
In turn, the number of cabled dwellings with high-speed accesses supported by cable TV networks increased by 0.3% over the last year, amounting to a total of 3.8 million. The coverage of this type of network stood at 59.5%, the same figure as a year ago.
Consult the statistical report:
- Redes e serviços de alta velocidade em local fixo (FTTH e HFC) - 1.º trimestre de 2020 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1537984
