Research Unit.
NOS leads the way in 5G with more than 51% of stations installed in Portugal
NOS reinforced its leadership in Portugal's coverage with 5G, having installed, by the end of 2022, 2985 5G stations, according to the report released by the communications regulator, ANACOM, that is 51% more than in the previous quarter. This number of antennas is equivalent to 51% of all 5G antennas in the country, more than the two remaining operators together. Vodafone installed, in the same period, 1803 stations, equivalent to 31% and MEO just 18%, or 1054 stations.
Also according to ANACOM, the 5842 stations were distributed across 302 municipalities (98% of the municipalities in the country) and 1526 parishes (49% of the parishes in the country).
As for the density of 5G base stations in Portugal, it was found that at the end of the 4th quarter of 2022, there was, on average, approximately one station per 15 km2. This value varies a lot throughout the territory, and along the western coastline, mainly between Viana do Castelo and Setúbal, and along the southern coastline (Algarve), the concentration of the number of stations reaches values higher than the national average.
In terms of use of this technology, at the end of December, there were 1.5 million accesses to 5G mobile internet in Portugal, which makes up 15.4% of total accesses to mobile internet. The monthly traffic generated reached 6,133 TB, which means that 7.7% of total mobile traffic is already supported on 5G networks, according to the regulatory authority.