Fibre networks help Portuguese pay TV achieve modest growth

Portugal had about 3.17 million pay TV subscribers at the end of last year, up 1.6% on the previous year and up 0.3% on the previous quarter, according to regulator ANACOM. 

According to the regulator, growth was driven by fibre network and XDSL providers, whose subscribers increased by 4.5% and 3.4% respectively quarter-on-quarter. Cable and DTH customers fell by 1.1% and 2.8% respectively in the fourth quarter.

Cable held a 44.2% amrket share in December while XDSL represented 21.6% and DTH had 19.3%. FTTH/B network accounted for 14.9% of subscribers.

According to ANACOM, 77.9% of pay TV subs took a service as part of a bundled offering.

The Zon Optimus group remains the market leader by share, accounting for 47.8% of subscribers. Portugal Telecom had a 41.5% share, followed by Cabovisáo and Vodafone with 7.1% and 3.5% respectively.

Total revenues from standalone pay TV packages totaled €1.2779 billion, up 3.1% on the previous year, according to ANACOM, while average monthly expenditure per user for bundled offerings stood at €47.50, down 4.2%. Average revenue from bundled TV and internet offerings fell by 5.3% to €39.60, while bundled TV and fixed phone packages saw averagerevenue rise by 2% to €31.60.

About 19.4% of pay TV homes had access to premium channels at the end of December, down 1.2%.