During the first half of 2020, the penetration rate of main telephone accesses reached 50 accesses per 100 inhabitants. The penetration rate for accesses installed at the request of residential customers increased to 91.2 per 100 private households.
The number of fixed telephone service customers with direct access was around 4.2 million, 94,000 (+2.3%) more than the same period the previous year. The growth recorded is consistent with the estimated historical trend and is associated with the increasing penetration of bundles that include a fixed telephone service.
There was also an increase (of 9.3%) in the volume of minutes generated in the fixed network compared to the first half of 2019 (-16.1% in the same period the previous year). This is the first year-on-year increase since the first half of 2012.
This exceptional increase is a result of the significant alteration in service use patterns due to COVID-19. For example, in the week when the state of emergency came into force (from 16 to 22 March), fixed voice traffic increased 61% compared to the week before the pandemic was declared (2 to 8 March).
For the same reason, the average duration of calls generated in the fixed network increased by around 41 seconds compared to the same period the previous year (+20.2%). The average duration of national fixed-to-fixed calls increased by 58 seconds (+23.6%).
At the end of the first half of 2020, the share of MEO – Serviços de Comunicações e Multimédia direct access customers reached 42.1%, followed by the NOS Group with 35.8%, Vodafone Portugal – Comunicações Pessoais with 18.4% and the NOWO/Onitelecom Group with 3.4%.
Consult the statistical report:
- Fixed telephone service - 1st half 2020 https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1563727
