Operators obliged to provide a social Internet tariff offer can do so right away. ANACOM approved NOWO's offer of a social broadband Internet access tariff, which can now be made available. Grupo NOS, MEO, Prodevice and Vodafone are required to make adjustments to their offers within a maximum period of 10 working days, as determined by ANACOM, and may, as they do so, make the respective offers available.
The social internet tariff, defined annually by the Government, has been set up to allow families on low incomes or with social need to access broadband, fixed or mobile Internet services.
To benefit from the social Internet tariff, a request must be made to one of the providers. The request will then be forwarded to ANACOM, which will verify that it meets all the requirements, and if the request is valid, ANACOM will inform the provider, which then has 10 days to activate the social tariff.
All operators that offer Internet access services to residential customers will be obliged to make the social tariff available throughout the country, as long as there is installed infrastructure and/or mobile coverage that allows this service to be provided.
Each household can only benefit from one social Internet access tariff. Access to the tariff is available to people who benefit from:
- the old-age social pension or the solidarity supplement for the elderly;
- unemployment benefit;
- the social disability pension (special regime) or the complement to the social benefit for inclusion;
- Social Integration Income;
- family allowance;
- and households with an annual income equal to or less than 5808 euros, plus an additional 50% for each member of the household who does not earn an income, up to a limit of 10 people. In these families, if there are university students away from home, studying in other municipalities, they can request the additional social tariff offer.
The social tariff has a monthly charge of 5 euros plus VAT and includes a minimum of 15GB of data per month; operators must ensure a minimum 12 Mbps download speed and 2 Mbps upload speed, enabling:
- use of email;
- use of search engines to search and consult all types of information;
- use of educational and training tools;
- access to newspapers or news;
- purchase/ordering of goods or services;
- job searching;
- networking, at a professional level;
- use of online banking services and Government services;
- use of social networks and instant messaging; and
- quality calls and video calls.
A maximum one-off amount of €21.45 plus VAT may also be charged for activation of services and/or access equipment. Beneficiaries of the social Internet tariff can choose to pay this amount over 6, 12 or 24 months, or make full payment on the first bill.
This tariff does not include television and telephone.
Consult:
- Decision on the social tariff for provision of broadband Internet access services communicated by MEO https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1717691
- Decision on the offer of the social tariff for provision of broadband Internet access services communicated by Grupo NOS https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1717698
- Approval of the offer of the social tariff for the provision of broadband Internet access services communicated by NOWO https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1717701
- Decision on the offer on the social tariff for provision of broadband Internet access services communicated by Prodevice https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1717703
- Decision on the offer on the social tariff for provision of broadband Internet access services communicated by Vodafone https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1717704
