At the end of the third quarter of this year there were about 1.587 million Internet access service customers in Portugal, 22% more than in the previous quarter and 11.1% more than in the previous year. Broadband customers reached 1.404 million, 88.4% of the total figure.
59 thousand customers subscribed to broadband during this quarter, 4.4% more vis-à-vis the previous quarter and a 24.1% growth on the previous year.
At the end of the period under analysis, there were around 876 thousand Internet access customers using ADSL technology, while 524 thousand had broadband via cable modem. The number of customers with other types of access reached 4 thousand customers.
The number of ADSL customers increased 6.1% compared to the previous quarter and the number of cable modem broadband customers increased about 1.4%. As a result, the predominance of ADSL grew stronger, accounting for about 62.4% of total broadband accesses by the end of the quarter.
Among overall Internet customers there were 1.3 million residential customers, 1.7% more than in June and 8.6% more than a year before. Of these customers, 1.140 million were broadband customers.
Regarding transmission speeds, there is a transition trend from narrow band to broadband, with a 12.8% quarterly fall in the number of residential customers using narrow band and a 4.2% increase in broadband customers. These figures have an annual variation of -40.5% and 23.4%, respectively.
ADSL continued to be the preferred means of Internet access in the residential segment, following a trend that has been evident since the end of 2005. At the end of September there were 639 thousand customers with ADSL access, about 56% of all residential broadband customers.
In the non-residential segment there were around 281 thousand customers, a 4.4% increase on the previous quarter and a 24.6% year-to-date growth.
ADSL technology continues to be the main Internet access technology in the non-residential segment, with 237 thousand customers accessing the Internet using this means, as opposed to 24 thousand using cable modems, 17 thousand using dial up access and about 3 thousand with dedicated lines.
In September the broadband penetration rate, in terms of total customers per total population, stood at 13.3%, 0.6 percent above the previous quarter and 2.6% more than a year before. Taking mobile accesses into account, broadband penetration rate in Portugal should reach 14.9%.
During the period now being analysed, PTGroup's share of broadband customers fell 1.4 per cent regarding the previous quarter, to 71.5%. Compared to the figures of a year earlier, PT's share decreased 7 per cent.
The growth in the shares of the new broadband providers is mainly due to the growth in the number of unbundled loops and the improvement in the conditions of the Local Loop unbundling offer made by ANACOM.
During this quarter, 3 out of each 5 new broadband customers subscribed alternative providers' services.
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