During the third quarter of this year, the percentage of cable television subscribers, compared to the total Portuguese population, did not suffer any type of change, remaining at 13.2 percent.
The figures collected by Anacom show that the percentage of subscribers to these services represented 27.9 percent of the total of national accommodations. However, the regulatory authority states that during the referred period, 28 thousand new accommodations were cabled, which represents an increase of 0.7 percent over the previous three months. Thus, the total number of cabled households now stands at 3.9 million, 45 percent of which are located in Lisbon.
At the end of September, there were 1.4 million subscribers to cable television distribution services, representing the adhesion of 1,000 new subscribers compared to the same quarter last year and an increase of 0.1 percent, but slightly lower than that registered in the quarter between April and June this year.
Anacom justifies the quarterly decrease as a reflection of the current economic situation, although this situation may «reflect the competitive environment in the broadband market and the introduction of new offers in terms of broadband Internet access services», since that, until recently, many users joined cable television services to access the Internet.
In the July to September quarter, the Autonomous Region of the Azores stood out with the highest growth in the number of subscribers (1.6 percent), while Madeira obtained an increase of 1.2 percent. The capital remains the region with the largest number of cable television subscribers with 50.4 percent of total subscriptions.
The technology Direct to Home (DHT) is gaining more and more users with 403 thousand subscribers at the end of September, 5.3% more than in the previous quarter and 2.6% more compared to the same period in 2005. In total , in absolute values, during the quarter in question, another 20 thousand DTH subscribers in Portugal were accounted for.
Related News:
2006-03-10 – Cable TV in a stable phase in attracting customers
2005-10-04 – Cable television reaches 29.3% penetration rate in Portuguese homes
