Setback for Portuguese DTT
By Chris Dziadul
February 3, 2010 20.11 UK
DIGITAL SWITCHOVER STRATEGIES – LONDON. The Portuguese regulator ANACOM has agreed to revoke the licence held by Portugal Telecom (PT) for pay DTT services. However, there is as yet no indication as to what will now happen to the licence.
Nuno Cintra Torres, director, strategy, ZON Conteúdos, said that this is the latest development in a 10-year convoluted process to introduce DTT into Portugal. PT won a licence for the FTA Multiplex A in 2008 and the following year also secured the right to operate pay-TV multiplexes. AirPlus, which also bid for the latter, subsequently went to court but lost its case.
Although the launch of pay DTT services was set for July 2009, it was put back by six months. PT then failed to launch a service and handed its licence back to ANACOM.
Portugal plans to eventually have two national pay multiplexes (B and C) and three regional ones (D, E and F). However, as Torres pointed out, there is still considerable ignorance about DTT in the country, which is expected to complete ASO in two years time.
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