Telecommunication systems: general assessment:
Portugal has a medium-sized telecom market with a strong mobile sector and a growing broadband customer base; mobile market dominated by one operator with room for competition; 3G infrastructure is universal, with investment directed towards provision of 90% LTE coverage in rural areas and 5G technologies; cable sector shifting to fiber, with access to 66% of population; developments in m-commerce; operator assessing installation of submarine cable between islands and mainland; importer of broadcasting equipment from EU (2021)
(2020)domestic: integrated network of coaxial cables, open-wire, microwave radio relay, and domestic satellite earth stations; fixed-line 50 per 100 persons and mobile-cellular 116 per 100 persons (2019)
international: country code - 351; landing points for the Ella Link, BUGIO, EIG, SAT-3/WASC, SeaMeWe-3, Equino, MainOne, Tat TGN-Western Europe, WACS, ACE, Atlantis2 and Columbus-III submarine cables provide connectivity to Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, South America and the US; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (2 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean), NA Eutelsat; tropospheric scatter to Azores (2019)
note: the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments
Definition: This entry includes a brief general assessment of a country's telecommunications system with details on the domestic and international components. The following terms and abbreviations are used throughout the entry:
Source: CIA World Factbook - This page was last updated on Saturday, September 18, 2021
