NOS teams up with Vodafone in Portuguese fibre deal

Portuguese network operators NOS and Vodafone Portugal have signed a deal to co-develop and share fibre infrastructure.

The pair’s agreement covers the reciprocal sharing of dark fibre infrastructure covering about 2.6 million homes in the country.

The pair’s agreement also extends to mobile infrastructure, with the pair set to share a minimum of 200 mobile towers across the country.

The deal covering fibre will enable NOS to reach 4.4 million homes with Gigabit-capable networks by the end of next year, the company said.

NOS CEO Miguel Almeida said that under the agreement, the pair would retain full autonomy in the design of commercial offerings over their shared network. Each will manage its own customer base entirely independently, he said.

According to statistics recently released by regulator ANACOM, fibre is now he leading technology for fixed broadband access in the country, accounting for 35.4% of the total.

Altice-owned Meo is the leading provider of fixed access, generally with a 39.8% share, losing ground somewhat to NOS, which now accounts for 37.7% of the total. Vodafone also gained ground with an 18% share, while Apax Group, owner of Nowo and ONI, accounts for 4.2%.

NOS’ main rival Altice Portugal recently said it had passed four million homes and businesses with fibre.