Portugal adds 13,000 pay TV subscribers in 3Q 2013

According to Portugal’s Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM), there were 3.156 million subscribers to subscription TV in the country at the end of the 3rd Quarter of 2013, thirteen thousand (+0.4 percent) more than in the previous quarter, and an extra 49 thousand (+1.6 percent) compared with the end of the third quarter of 2012.

At the end of September, cable TV represented 44.9 percent of total subscribers, while DTH comprised 20.0 percent, and xDSL comprised 20.8 percent. Optical fibre (FTTH/B) accounted for 14.3 percent of all subscribers.

The total number of cable television service subscribers – around 1.417 million – was 16 thousand down on the previous quarter (-1.1 percent). The number of DTH subscribers stood at 630 thousand, 3 thousand fewer (-0.5 percent) than in the previous quarter, and 41 thousand fewer than at 3Q2012 (-6.0%). The number of subscribers to subscription TV via optical fibre (FTTH/B) increased by 4.3 percent in the quarter, 22.2% annually, reaching a total of 452 thousand.

Subscription television service subscribers by technology (Units: 1000 subscribers; %)

                                                                                    Quarterly        Annual
                                 12Q1   12Q2   12Q3   12Q4   13Q1   13Q2   13Q3     variation     variation
                                -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  -----  ------------  ------------
Cable                           1,466  1,470  1,459  1,456  1,446  1,433  1,417  -16 ( -1.1%)  -42 ( -2.9%)
DTH                               672    668    671    660    646    633    630   -3 ( -0.5%)  -41 ( -6.0%)
FTTH                              307    341    370    394    414    434    452   19 ( +4.3%)   82 (+22.2%)
Other technologies (xDSL, FWA)    587    599    607    612    623    644    657   14 ( +2.1%)   50 ( +8.2%)
Total                           3,032  3,079  3,108  3,122  3,129  3,143  3,156   13 ( +0.4%)   49 ( +1.6%)

Source: ICP-ANACOM

The ZON/TV Cabo Group continues to have the largest, though declining, share of subscription TV subscribers (49.3 percent). PT Comunicações (PTC) and Cabovisão follow with shares of 41.0 percent and 7.2 percent, respectively, with PTC steadily increasing its share.

Shares of subscription TV subscribers (Units: %)

                             12Q1    12Q2    12Q3    12Q4    13Q1    13Q2    13Q3
                           ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------
Grupo ZON Optimus*              -       -       -       -       -       -   49.3%
Grupo ZON/TV Cabo          52.20%  51.42%  50.59%  50.22%  49.74%   49.0%       -
  ZON TV Cabo Portugal     48.59%  47.88%  47.10%  46.77%  46.30%   45.6%   44.8%
  ZON TV Cabo Açoreana      1.59%   1.54%   1.50%   1.46%   1.44%    1.4%    1.4%
  ZON TV Cabo Madeirense    2.02%   2.01%   1.99%   1.99%   2.00%    2.0%    2.0%
  Optimus                       -       -       -       -       -       -    1.2%
Optimus (ex-Sonaecom)       1.21%   1.20%   1.19%   1.17%   1.18%    1.2%       -
PT Comunicações            36.63%  37.56%  38.55%  39.19%  39.88%   40.4%   41.0%
Cabovisão                   8.52%   8.34%   8.13%   7.84%   7.59%    7.4%    7.2%
Vodafone                    1.30%   1.33%   1.36%   1.38%   1.45%    1.8%    2.3%
Other providers             0.16%   0.17%   0.19%   0.22%   0.19%    0.2%    0.2%

* ZON acquired Optimus on August 27, 2013
Source: ICP-ANACOM

More: 2103 3Q statistics