Portugal adds 49,000 pay TV subscribers in 2013

Friday, February 28th, 2014
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According to Portugal’s Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), there were 3.171 million subscribers to subscription TV in the country at the end of the 4th Quarter of 2013, nine thousand (+0.3 percent) more than in the previous quarter, and an extra 49 thousand (+1.6 percent) compared with the end of the fourth quarter of 2012.

At the end of December, cable TV represented 44.2 percent of total subscribers, while DTH comprised 19.3 percent, and xDSL comprised 21.6 percent. Optical fibre (FTTH/B) accounted for 14.9 percent of all subscribers.

The total number of cable television service subscribers – around 1.401 million – was 16 thousand down on the previous quarter (-1.1 percent). The number of DTH subscribers stood at 612 thousand, 18 thousand fewer (-2.8 percent) than in the previous quarter, and 48 thousand fewer than at the end of 2012 (-7.3%). The number of subscribers to subscription TV via optical fibre (FTTH/B) increased by 4.5 percent in the quarter, 20.1% annually, reaching a total of 473 thousand.

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

                                                                                          Quarterly       Annual
                                 12Q1   12Q2   12Q3   12Q4   13Q1   13Q2   13Q3   13Q4    variation    variation
                                -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----------  -----------
Cable                           1,466  1,470  1,459  1,456  1,446  1,433  1,417  1,401  -16 (-1.1%)  -55 (-3.8%)
DTH                               672    668    671    660    646    633    630    612  -18 (-2.8%)  -48 (-7.3%)
FTTH                              307    341    370    394    414    434    452    473   20  (4.5%)   79 (20.1%)
Other technologies (xDSL, FWA)    587    599    607    612    623    644    657    686   22  (3.4%)   73 (12.0%)
Total                           3,032  3,079  3,108  3,122  3,129  3,143  3,156  3,171    9  (0.3%)   49  (1.6%)

Source: ICP-ANACOM

The ZON Optimus Group continues to have the largest, though declining, share of subscription TV subscribers (47.8 percent). PT Comunicações (PTC) and Cabovisão follow with shares of 41.5 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively, with PTC and Vodafone increasing their shares.

Shares of subscription TV subscribers (Units: %)

                             12Q1    12Q2    12Q3    12Q4    13Q1    13Q2    13Q3    13Q4
                           ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Grupo ZON/TV Cabo          52.20%  51.42%  50.59%  50.22%  49.74%   49.0%       -
Optimus (ex-Sonaecom)       1.21%   1.20%   1.19%   1.17%   1.18%    1.2%       -       -
Grupo ZON Optimus*              -       -       -       -       -       -   49.2%   47.8%
  ZON TV Cabo Portugal     48.59%  47.88%  47.10%  46.77%  46.30%   45.6%   44.7%   43.8%
  ZON TV Cabo Açoreana      1.59%   1.54%   1.50%   1.46%   1.44%    1.4%    1.4%    1.1%
  ZON TV Cabo Madeirense    2.02%   2.01%   1.99%   1.99%   2.00%    2.0%    2.0%    2.0%
  Optimus                       -       -       -       -       -       -    1.2%    0.8%

PT Comunicações            36.63%  37.56%  38.55%  39.19%  39.88%   40.4%   40.9%   41.5%
Cabovisão                   8.52%   8.34%   8.13%   7.84%   7.59%    7.4%    7.2%    7.1%
Vodafone                    1.30%   1.33%   1.36%   1.38%   1.45%    1.8%    2.5%    3.5%
Other providers             0.16%   0.17%   0.19%   0.22%   0.19%    0.2%    0.2%    0.2%

* ZON acquired Optimus on August 27, 2013
Source: ICP-ANACOM