Portugal adds 186,000 pay TV subscribers in 2012

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013
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According to Portugal’s Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), there were 3.12 million subscribers to subscription TV at the end of the 4th Quarter of 2012, 14 thousand (+0.5 percent) more than in the previous quarter, and an extra 186 thousand (6.3 percent) compared to the end of 2011.

At the end of December, cable TV represented 46.6 percent of total subscribers, while DTH comprised 21.1 percent, and xDSL comprised 19.6 percent. Optical fibre (FTTH/B) accounted for 12.6 percent of all subscribers.

The total number of cable television service subscribers – around 1.456 million – was 3 thousand down on the previous quarter (-0.2 percent). The number of DTH subscribers stood at 660 thousand, 11 thousand fewer (-1.6 percent) than in the previous quarter, and 7 thousand fewer than at 4Q2011 (-1.1%). The number of subscribers to subscription TV via optical fibre (FTTH/B) increased by 6.2 percent in the quarter, 49.4% annually, reaching a total of 394 thousand.

Subscription television service subscribers by technology (Units: 1000 subscribers; %) 

                                                                   Quarterly     Annual
                                 11Q4   12Q1   12Q2   12Q3   12Q4  variation  variation
                                -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  ---------  ---------
Cable                           1,438  1,466  1,470  1,459  1,456      -0.2%       1.3%
DTH                               667    672    668    671    660      -1.6%      -1.1%
FTTH                              263    307    341    370    394       6.2%      49.4%
Other technologies (xDSL, FWA)    567    587    599    607    612       0.8%       7.9%
Total                           2,936  3,032  3,079  3,108  3,122       0.5%       6.3%

Source: ICP-ANACOM

The ZON/TV Cabo Group continues to have the largest share of subscription TV subscribers (50.2 percent). PT Comunicações (PTC) and Cabovisão follow with shares of 39.2 percent and 7.84 percent, respectively.

Shares of subscription TV subscribers (Units: %)

                             11Q4    12Q1    12Q2    12Q3    12Q4
                           ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Grupo ZON/TV Cabo          53.26%  52.20%  51.42%  50.59%  50.22%
  ZON TV Cabo Portugal     49.46%  48.59%  47.88%  47.10%  46.77%
  ZON TV Cabo Açoreana      1.68%   1.59%   1.54%   1.50%   1.46%
  ZON TV Cabo Madeirense    2.12%   2.02%   2.01%   1.99%   1.99%
PT Comunicações            35.50%  36.63%  37.56%  38.55%  39.19%
Cabovisão                   8.71%   8.52%   8.34%   8.13%   7.84%
Vodafone                    1.17%   1.30%   1.33%   1.36%   1.38%
Optimus (ex-Sonaecom)       1.22%   1.21%   1.20%   1.19%   1.17%
Other providers             0.16%   0.16%   0.17%   0.19%   0.22%

Source: ICP-ANACOM