Nearly nine out of ten households (89.3%) households in Portugal subscribed to pay-TV services at the end of the first half.
This, according to figures published by the regulator ANACOM, was 3.3pp higher than in the same period last year. The total number of pay-TV homes stood at 4.15 million at the end of June, 165,000 (+4.1%) more than a year earlier. This was the highest annual growth in both relative and absolute terms since 2016. It was principally driven by FTTH, with the number of connections growing by 263,000 (+14.8%).
FTTH was the main access to pay-TV, accounting for 49% of subscribers. It was followed by cable (31.9%), DTH (11.1%) and ADSL (8%). Meo was the market leader in subscriber terms (39.8%), followed by Grupo Nos (39.7%), Vodafone (16.7%) and Nowo (3.7%).
Vodafone and Meo were the providers that, in net terms, had the most subscribers in relation to the same period in 2019, with their shares increasing by 0.9 pp and 0.3 pp, respectively. On the other hand, the shares of Grupo Nos (-0.9 p.p.) and NOWO (-0.3 p.p.) decreased.
ANACOM also notes that bundled services were received by 4.15 million subscribers at the end of the first half. Quadruple and quintuple play were the most popular (2.8 million, or 50% of the total), followed triple play (1.66 million, 40%). However, growth in quadruple and quintuple play in H1 was, at 6.2%, down from the 12.5% posted in the same period last year.
Revenues from bundled services amounted to €863.9 million in H1, up 5.3% on a year earlier, while ARPU was 0.7% higher at €35.04.
Meo accounted for the most bundled subscribers (40.5%), followed by Grupo Nos (36.9%), Vodafone (18.8%) and Grupo Nowo / Onitelecom (3.7%).
Compared to the same period last year, Vodafone increased its share of subscribers by 0.6 pp, Meo’s share of subscribers remained the same and the shares of Grupo Nos (-0.4 pp) and Nowo/ Onitelecom Group fell by 0.3pp. Grupo Nos had the highest revenues from bundled services (41.7%), followed by Meo (40.4%), Vodafone (15.4%) and the Nowo / Onitelecom Group (2.5%).
Compared to the same period last year, Vodafone increased its share of revenues by 1.5 pp, in contrast to the reduction seen in the NOS Group, Meo and the Nowo / Onitelecom Group (-0.6 pp, -0.5 pp and -0.4 pp respectively).
