Four in five Portuguese homes now take multi-play service

Almost four in five Portuguese households took a multi-play service at the end of September, according to figures released by telecom regulator Anacom.

According to the regulator, 78 out of 100 households took a multiple package at the end of the third quarter up from 71 a year earlier. Some 41.8% of homes took a triple-play service, while 37.4% took a quintuple-play offering.

According to Anacom, quintuple-play is defined as a combination of fixed phone, fixed broadband, pay TV, mobile phone and internet, and modem-based mobile broadband, while quad-play excludes the last of these.

The total number of bundled subscribers was 3.2 million, up 11.4% year-on-year and up 2.1% quarter-on-quarter, due largely to the expansion of quad and quintuple-play offerings, with together had 1.324 million customers, or 41.6% of the total. These packages grew 6.2% in the thir4d quarter and 52.9% year-on-year, while triple-play packages, still the most popular overall, accounting for 41.8% of the universe of bundled subscribers, declined by 0.5% in the quarter and 6.5% year-on-year.

Meo had the highest number of bundled customers at the end of the third quarter, with 41.8% of the total, followed by Nos with 39.1%, Vodafone with 13.1% and Apax Group-owned Cabovisão with 6%.