BEREC REPORT ON IMPACT OF FIXED-MOBILE ... - berec - Europa

The Portuguese “e.iniciatives”
BoR (11) 54
The national policy for the information society and promotion of access to broadband
was defined through the programme Ligar Portugal, launched by the government in
2005. In order to generalize the access to laptops and broadband by the least-
favoured social groups the Portuguese government launched the e.iniciativas
(“e.initiatives”) in 2007.
Those eligible for this programme have access to a laptop plus a mobile broadband
internet access. Those taking part in the programme usually pay an initial payment plus
a monthly payment (lower than the “normal” monthly payments”), during a minimum
contractual period. The eligibility to this programme and value of the payments depend
on the economic conditions of the candidates.
The three UMTS 52 licensees adhered to e.iniciativas consistently with commitments
assumed on tendering procedures for the attribution of their licenses. The offers
available from each operator vary, but they guarantee several download and upload
speeds, traffic and monthly cost.
According to the data available this initiative led to a very significant increase in the
number of laptops and the level of mobile broadband access: about 1 million out of a
total of 1.3 million mobile broadband users are from the from e-initiatives programmes
at the end of 2010 (77% of the total mobile broadband users).
In the broadband access market review of January 2009 ANACOM considered the
mentioned fact as one of the reasons why there was not a relevant substitution at the
retail level between fixed and mobile broadband access services.
Source: ANACOM 53
Questionnaire results
The majority of the NRAs consider that the existence of promotion programmes for
specific networks/services is a relevant parameter to consider when evaluating the
possible integration of fixed and mobile services in the same market. These NRAs
state that when analysing this parameter it is important to consider the existence of
specific programmes promoting the use of mobile or fixed services and the relation
between adoption of the use of mobile/fixed service and the existence of the promotion
programme.
52 Universal Mobile Telecommunications System.
53 Study on the impact and adhesion to e.iniciativas - Final Report:
http://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1000836.
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