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“Even in this phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have not stopped building fiber optics,” said Alexandre Fonseca, CEO of Altice Portugal, stating that 4.5 million kilometers of fiber have already been built and that Altice has reached the cruising speed. connecting more than 100 thousand homes per month and that it is “a technology made in Portugal”. In the day in which he confirms the anticipation of the goal that had been set for the end of 2020, Alexandre Fonseca also recalls that it is a private investment, of about 500 million euros per year, and that it has proven to be key in the development of Portugal’s digitization capacity.
Altice Portugal had defined in 2015 the goal of reaching 5.3 million homes, covering the entire Portuguese territory and 308 municipalities, by the end of 2020, but managed to anticipate the goal. “For this we build fiber at a unique rate”, he underlines, guaranteeing that “we will continue to build fiber optics in Portugal and we will take over the largest, best and most widely used network in Portugal throughout the country”, highlights Alexandre Fonseca, recalling the ambition to carry connectivity to the entire territory, in an investment in “true information highways” that contributes to territorial cohesion, economic development, population settlement and job creation. The goal now is to reach the 6 million homes that exist, between first and second homes, but for this investment Altice is still studying the model.
Along with the investment in fiber and innovation, the CEO of Altice Portugal also marked today “the historic milestone of conquering the undisputed leadership of the communications market”. MEO was already the market leader in the mobile, fixed broadband and bundled services segment, but the Altice brand now notes that it also achieved first place in the TV segment, adding that this happened in less than 12 years. in which Altice dethroned the incumbent television operator, NOS. “It is a sign of ambition and the will to make it happen,” he added, highlighting the work of the Executive Committee, the entire Altice team and also the clients, “he says.
The latest figures shared by Anacom, the communications market regulatory authority, confirm that MEO has overtaken NOS as the market leader in pay TV services. The Altice-owned brand was already a leader in service packages (including TV, Internet and mobile telephony), holding the top spot on the list of operators at the end of the first half.
In another dimension, that of innovation, the company also highlights the ability to develop packages of services and innovation in terms of equipment, where the company has been innovating, becoming the first operator in the world to offer its service. TV on three different platforms, its native Box, Apple TV, launched in November 2019, and Android TV Box, available in August.
“This is a project that allows us to have confidence in the future”, adds the president of Altice, who guarantees that it will continue to invest in Portugal, “investing in networks, whether fiber optic, 4G or 5G”, but always guaranteeing the best connectivity for individual clients and companies.
Optical fiber reaching 500 parishes plus “100% fiber”
Luis Alveirinho, CTO of Altice, recalled that the fiber project began in 2005 and that the first client connected in 2007, reaching the first million clients in 201o, ensuring Altice Portugal’s leadership in business and services, and being part as an integral and fundamental part of the strategy and modernization of the infrastructure. Altice now reaches 5.3 million, which corresponds to the goal it had set in June, with 4.5 million kilometers of fiber optics – the equivalent of going 112 rounds to Earth – connecting millions of Portuguese in 308 municipalities and 27 thousand seats.
In 2019 Altice had launched the initiative to connect 6 municipalities and 10 municipalities with the 100% fiber pilot and in September the number reached 100 parishes, but Luis Alveirinho announced today that the goal is now to reach 500 more parishes covered by 100% with fiber optic from Altice Portugal, still during this semester, expanding this initiative. “Optical fiber is clearly a differentiator in terms of quality of service and user experience, whether to offer pay TV services or Internet access”, recalls Luis Alveirinho, adding that Anacom recently revealed that MEO is the operator with the Fewer complaints per 100 customers, below the national average of 3.
“It has been a challenging project”, underlines the CTO of Altice Portugal, who recalls that Portugal is on the European and world scene, clearly a benchmark, systematically leading all fiber optic coverage and penetration rates in Europe, which is recognized by organizations that monitor FTTH (Fiber to the Home). There were 15 years of transformation, the change from copper to fiber, the migration from traditional switching to IP networks and the modernization of communication infrastructures in Portugal, and for this Luis Alveirinho congratulated all the teams that throughout the years have been involved in this project.
In response to SAPO TEK, Alexandre Fonseca admits that there are four important elements to have managed to anticipate this milestone of the 5.3 million homes covered with fiber, listing the quality and technical competence of the engineering; the architecture designed for the network; the role of Altice Labs, which brought all the OLT equipment, boxes to the street and the “deep understanding of the business guts” of the Altice founders that allows to have the “Altice Way” in the way of building the infrastructure.
And what is the new goal? Alexandre Fonseca admits that the goal of reaching 100% was aimed at covering some 4 million first homes, to which are added another 1.3 million second homes, or vacation homes, but there will still be a margin of homes that are not in these figures, which will be 600 to 700 thousand more. “From now on our investment is not based on a project logic to reach a specific number,” he justifies, “we will continue to invest as we find scholarships in Portuguese territory that still need investment,” he adds, saying that One of the Relevant issues is to define a national strategy to reach the stock of homes that are not found in this number of homes already covered, in areas with lower economic returns, which can happen with public and private joint ventures.
Altice Portugal’s level of investment in recent years has been around 500 million euros per year, very focused on fiber optics, but Alexandre Fonseca assures that “from now on the investment will focus on other standards in other technological quadrants, 5G It is at the door and we have another set of challenges that will require our investment, ”he explained to journalists.
Editorial Note: The news was updated after the conference. Last update 3:38 pm
