In Portugal, at the end of 2021, the number of subscribers to service packages was 4.4 million, 146 thousand more (+3.4%) than the previous year. The information provided by the Autoridade Nacional de Comunicações (ANACOM) reveals that the observed growth is the lowest since the compilation of this information began in 2011, continuing to be associated with 4/5P offers (+128 thousand) and, to a lesser extent, measure, to 3P offers (+20 thousand).
The 4/5P offers, the most used, had 2.3 million subscribers (51.5% of the total number of subscribers to bundled offers), followed by the 3P offers, with 1.7 million subscribers (38.9% ). The percentage growth of 4/5P offers (6%) was higher than that registered the previous year (5.5%) and lower than the average registered in the last four years (7.8%). Isolated offers or single play, which are characterized by not being sold as a package, represented 72.1% of mobile accesses and 15.4% of fixed accesses. In total mobile and fixed accesses, isolated offers represented 59.6%.
It is estimated that, at the end of 2021, 89.1 out of every 100 families are subscribed to service packages, 0.9 percentage points (pp) more than in 2020. According to data from the European Commission, between November and December 2020, the adherence rate of Portuguese families to bundled offers was higher than the European average (+26 pp), with Portugal in 3rd position in the ranking of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU27).
According to information reported by the four main electronic communications providers, at the end of the 2nd quarter of 2021, around 12.5% of the total package subscribers belonged to the non-residential segment. 2P offers had a greater weight among non-residential subscribers (25.7%) compared to residential subscribers (7.3%).
In 2021, packaged services revenue was around €1,791 million, an increase of 3.4% from the previous year (the lowest annual growth since 2018). Revenues from 4/5P offers represented 63.4% of the total.
The average monthly income per package subscriber was 34.54 euros (excluding VAT). There was a decrease of 0.5% compared to 2020. The average monthly billing was 43.02 euros in the case of 4/5P offers (-1.8%) and 27.69 euros in the case of 3P (+1%).
MEO was the provider with the highest share of subscribers to the bundled service (40.8%), followed by Grupo NOS (35.9%), Vodafone (20%) and NOWO (3.2%). Compared to the previous year, Vodafone and MEO increased their share of subscribers (+0.7 and 0.3 pp, respectively), while the shares of Grupo NOS (-0.6 pp) and NOWO (-0.3 pp) decreased.
MEO has the largest share of revenue from bundled services (41.1%), followed by Grupo NOS (40%), Vodafone (16.8%) and NOWO (2%). Compared to 2020, the revenue share of Vodafone (1 pp) and MEO (0.4 pp) increased and Grupo NOS (-1.0 pp) and NOWO (-0.4 pp) fell.
According to the European Commission, around 15% of Portuguese households with bundled services changed provider during 2020 (+5 p.p. than the EU27 average). Half of the households that changed providers of packaged services declared having had some problem in the process of changing provider (+7 p.p. than the EU27 average). The main problems are the temporary loss of service and the delay in the start-up of all services.
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