ANACOM - Portuguese Communications Authority

12/22/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 12/22/2025 11:12

Mobile internet traffic increased by 37.2% compared to the same quarter of 2024

At the end of 3rd quarter 2025, the penetration rate of the mobile service in Portugal reached 171.7 per 100 inhabitants. If only mobile accesses with actual use are considered1 (excluding M2M2), the penetration rate in Portugal would be 125.5 per 100 inhabitants. Excluding accesses exclusively associated with data services and Internet access (cards associated with PC/tablet/pen/router), the penetration rate would be 120.1 per 100 inhabitants.

When considering mobile accesses sold together with fixed services (i.e. in convergent bundles), the penetration rate was 63.7 per 100 inhabitants3.

There were 18.5 million mobile accesses eligible to use the service. Of these, 13.5 million (73.1% of the total) saw actual use. Excluding PC/tablet/pen/router accesses, there were 12.9 million mobile accesses.

The number of subscribers who actually used the service decreased by 57 thousand (-0.4%) compared to the end of 3Q2024. This trend is explained by the decline in the number of prepaid plans (-17.7% compared to 3rd quarter 2024). These plans now represent 22.8% of the total accesses with actual use. Subscriptions to postpaid and hybrid plans increased by 6.1%.

17.3% of mobile service users only accessed voice services, while 78.4% accessed both voice and internet services. Approximately 4.3% of users accessed the internet only, using a PC/pen/table/router.

At the end of 3rd quarter 2025, 44.1% of mobile accesses were using 4G technology, while 16.7% used the 2G+3G network and 39.2% used the 5G network (+14.9 percentage points versus 3Q2024).

By type of use, 2G+3G connections were mainly used for voice services (80.5%), while 4G and 5G connections were mainly used for voice and internet access (47.3% and 49.4%, respectively).

At the end of 3rd quarter 2025, mobile access from individual users accounted for 81.5% of total active access, while access from business users accounted for 18.5%.

At the end of 3rd quarter 2025, there were approximately 3.8 million ported mobile numbers in Portugal. During 3rd quarter 2025, 211.5 thousand mobile numbers were ported, representing an increase of 52.2% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

Mobile voice traffic, measured in minutes, decreased by 0.6% compared to 3Q2024. The number of conversation minutes per mobile voice access averaged 203 minutes per month, which represents approximately 7 minutes per day. Compared to the previous year, average monthly traffic decreased by 2 minutes (-0.8%).

Average call duration was 2 minutes and 49 seconds, 5 seconds less than in the same period of the previous year.

There were 11.2 million active users of mobile internet access services, increasing 3.7% from 3Q2024. This value corresponds to a penetration rate of approximately 103.8 per 100 inhabitants (+2.7 percentage points versus 3Q2024).

The increase in the number of users results from increases in the number of mobile internet users (+5.0%). The number of users of the Internet access service via PC/tablet/pen/router, which represented 5.2% of all mobile internet users, decreased by 15.4% compared to 3Q2024.

At the end of 3rd quarter 2025, mobile internet accesses belonging to individual users accounted for 80.8% of total accesses, while accesses associated with business users made up 19.2% of total accesses.

Mobile broadband (MBB) internet access traffic increased by 37.2% compared to 3Q2024. This growth is explained by the increase in the number of users and, above all, by increased intensity of use.

Average monthly traffic per active mobile internet user increased by 34.5% compared to the same period last year. Each MBB user consumed an average of 17.7 GB per month. Average monthly traffic generated by PC/tablet/pen/router reached 42.6 GB (+5.6%).

At the end of 3rd quarter 2025, there were approximately 1.3 million active mobile accesses associated with M2M (9x numbering), an increase of 6.9% compared to 3rd quarter 2024. These accesses represented 7.1% of total active accesses.

In 3rd quarter 2025, roaming in and roaming out voice traffic decreased compared to the previous year (-41.7% and -31.4%, respectively). On the other hand, there was a notable increase in internet traffic (+17.4% in the case of roaming in and +40.1% in the case of roaming out).

In 3rd quarter 2025, coverage of roaming in minutes by roaming out minutes was 143%. In the case of internet access, roaming in traffic was 3.4 times higher than roaming out traffic.

MEO remains the provider with the highest share of active mobile accesses with actual use (excluding M2M) with a share of 36.1%, followed by NOS (31.0%) and Vodafone (27.8%). Next are Grupo DIGI/NOWO and Lycamobile with market shares of 2.9% and 2.1%, respectively. Compared to the same period of 2024, NOS and Lycamobile increased their share of mobile accesses by 0.7 percentage points and 0.3 percentage points respectively, while the shares of MEO and Vodafone decreased by 1.3 percentage points and 0.7 percentage points, respectively.

In the case of mobile broadband Internet access subscribers, MEO's share was 34.0%, followed by NOS (32.4%), Vodafone (27.8%), Grupo DIGI/NOWO (3.4%) and Lycamobile (2.2%). Compared to 3Q2024, Lycamobile's market share increased by 0.4 percentage points, while MEO and NOS reported reductions of 1.7 percentage points and 0.1 percentage points, respectively. Vodafone's market share remained unchanged.

NOS held the highest share of mobile broadband internet traffic (35.8%), followed by Vodafone (31.5%), MEO (27.6%), Grupo DIGI / NOWO (3.9%) and Lycamobile (1.3%). Compared to 3Q2024, the market share of Vodafone, MEO and NOS decreased by 1.9 percentage points, 1.5 percentage points and 0.9 percentage points, respectively, while Lycamobile's share increased by 0.9 percentage points.

Following the 5G auction, ANACOM issued titles supporting rights of use of frequencies to six operators at the end of 2021: Dense Air, Dixarobil (Digi Portugal), MEO, NOS, NOWO and Vodafone.

However, following DIGI Portugal's acquisition of 100% of Cabonitel, S.A. (which owns 100% of NOWO), ANACOM approved the transfer of the rights of use of radio frequency spectrum granted to NOWO Communications, S.A. (NOWO) in the 3.6 GHz band (021) on 21 January 2025, within the scope of the 5G Auction, to DIGI Portugal (DIGI).

By the end of 3rd quarter 2025, 39.2% of mobile service users and 47.3% of mobile internet users were using the 5G mobile network. The number of mobile internet users using 5G totalled 5.3 million (+60.7% compared to 3rd quarter 2024), of which 98.9% accessed the internet via a mobile phone.

The penetration rate of mobile internet access via 5G reached 49.1 per 100 inhabitants.

It is estimated that, in 3rd quarter 2025, traffic carried on 5G networks represented approximately 22.1% of total mobile data traffic, reaching 8.4 GB per month per 5G mobile internet user.

Notes
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1 Active mobile accesses, such as subscription plans, minute plans, monthly payment plans convertible into traffic, which are eligible to use one of the contracted services and that actually made use of one of the contracted services in the period being reported.
2 M2M applications use mobile networks and the Internet to operate, monitor and interconnect machines and devices (i.e., tele-alarm, tele-security, telemetry, etc.). They are associated with the Internet of things.
3 This is a portion of the 171.7 per 100 inhabitants referred to in the previous paragraph.

Consult the statistical report:

ANACOM - Portuguese Communications Authority published this content on December 22, 2025, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on December 22, 2025 at 17:12 UTC. If you believe the information included in the content is inaccurate or outdated and requires editing or removal, please contact us at [email protected]