At the end of the final quarter of 2006 there were 12.2 million subscribers to the Portuguese Mobile Telephone Service, an increase of 2.5% over the previous quarter and an increase of 6.8% compared to the final quarter of 2005. While holders of pre-paid cards made up 80% of all subscribers, the rise seen in subscriber numbers over the last 12 months has in the most part been driven by the growth in the numbers of subscription plan holders.
The mobile service penetration rate reached 115.7% at the end of December. This figure is partly a result of the fact that there are users with more than one active card and that there are cards used solely for data services and internet access; there are also active cards used in machines, equipment and vehicles (mobile payment terminals, alarm equipment, security, telemetry and telematics, etc.) and other cards used by corporation that are also included in this figure.
In line with the growth seen in subscriber numbers, increases were seen in all traffic indicators in the quarter, with the exception of traffic to and from international networks, which, despite rising year-on-year, saw a drop compared to the previous quarter. However, this quarterly fall results from seasonal factors, with the summer holiday period traditionally causing this traffic type to peak in the third quarter of each year.
Over 1.7 billion calls were made by mobile service subscribers in the quarter, 1.5 per cent more than in the previous quarter and 0.5 per cent more than during the same period of the previous year. In the same period, over 1.7 billions calls were received, an increase of 2.2 per cent on the previous quarter and of 4.6 per cent on the same period of the previous year.
The number of conversation minutes on mobile networks saw little change over the previous quarter, with a total of over 3.2 billion minutes recorded, although compared to the same period of the previous year, there was a 7.2 per cent increase in the number of minutes.
At the same time the number of minutes terminated in mobile networks reached about 3.3 billion minutes, a 0.7 per cent increase on the previous quarter and a 7.2 per cent increase year-on-year.
The average duration of originated calls reached 112 seconds this quarter. In the case of terminated calls, the average duration was 109 seconds.
Between October and December subscribers made, on average, 47 calls each month, of which 32 were made within the caller's own network.
Finally, the strong growth seen in the number of written messages continued during the fourth quarter, with over 3.3 billion messages sent. This figure is a 1.3 per cent increase over the previous quarter and a 96.9 per cent increase over the same quarter of 2005. This is a result of customers signing up to the various promotional campaigns being run by the mobile operators, particularly those that include free messages in the tariff package.
The average number of messages sent per subscriber reached 93.
Consult:
- Postal services https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?categoryId=277884
