The Portuguese regulator ANACOM has announced the suspension of the migration process of the country’s DTT network due to constraints associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19).
In a statement, it says the move is the result of previous talks with Meo, the operator of the DTT network, and required the agreement of the government.
It adds that as result the date of the release of the 700MHz band, due to take place on June 30, has been put back.
Separately, ANACOM says that the number of pay-TV subscribers in Portugal stood at 4.1 million at the end of 2019, or 3.7% more than a year earlier.
The growth was due exclusively to fibre, which gained 285,000 (+17.5%) more subscribers in 2019.
All other technologies lost customers, with the steepest drop (20.2%) being in the case of ADSL. DTH and cable lost 34,000 (-6.9%) and 10,000 (-0.7%) customers respectively. All told, there were 1.9 million FTTH, 1.3 million cable, 464,000 DTH and 370,000 ADSL subscribers at the end of 2019.
In all, around 88% of families opted for pay-TV services, or 2.7 percentage points more than a year earlier. NOS was the leading provider of services, claiming 40.1% of subscribers.
However, its market share fell by 1.1 percentage points. Meo claimed 39.6% (+0.4pp), Vodafone 16.3% (+1.1pp) and Nowo 3.9% (-0.4pp).
