ANACOM - Portuguese Communications Authority

04/02/2025 | News release | Distributed by Public on 04/02/2025 07:34

More than 95 % of households covered by high-speed networks

At the end of the 4th quarter of 2024 (4Q2024), the number of residential customers of high-speed services at a fixed location reached 3.8 million. The household penetration rate was 89.2%. Around seven out of ten high-speed residential customers have subscribed to a fibre-based service (FTTH).

In 4Q2024, 92.4% of fixed broadband accesses were ultra-fast broadband accesses (i.e. download speed1 greater than or equal to 100 Mbps), with 20.9% of accesses having speeds of 1 Gbps or more.

At international level, Portugal was the 4th country in the EU27 with the highest proportion of accesses with download speeds of 100 Mbps or more in Dezember 2023 (89.7%), according to the European Commission.

In terms of high-speed network coverage, it is estimated that at least 6.2 million households were connected to this type of network, representing 95.3% of households (+1.0 p.p.). Compared to last year, the number of cabled households increased by 1.0%, which is higher than a year ago (+0.5% in 4Q2023).

At regional level, the Greater Lisbon area, the Setúbal Peninsula, the A.R. of Madeira, the A.R. of the Azores and the West and Tagus Valley region had a higher penetration rate than the national average. On the other hand, the number of cabled households increased in the Algarve (+7.5% compared to 4Q2023) and in the Alentejo (+3.5%), thereby strengthening territorial cohesion.

It is estimated that around 72.9% of cabled households and businesses actually used the services provided to residential and non-residential customers.

In terms of technology, the number of households covered by Fibre to the Home (FTTH) was around 6.1 million (+1.6% year-on-year), resulting in a coverage rate of 94.1% of households and businesses.

The proportion of cabled households and businesses actually using FTTH was 55.3% at the end of 4Q2024. The A.R. of Azores, North, Greater Lisbon and West and Tagus Valley regions had FTTH penetration rates above the national average. Only the A.R. of Madeira had a rate below 40%.

The number of households cabled with high-speed access supported by cable TV networks (HFC - Hybrid Fibre Coaxial) totalled 3.7 million (+0.1% year-on-year). The penetration rate of this type of network was 57.5% at the end of 4Q2024.

Consult the statistical report: