Introduction

The portuguese mobile market comprises several operators, of which three have their own networks with nation-wide coverage: MEO, NOS and Vodafone. Thus, the network situation for these MNOs acts as a trustworthy barometer of the network situation in the country. A good knowledge of the network situation also allows the customers to perform fully informed decisions.

The objective of this report is to provide a summary of the network situation in Portugal for these three carriers.

This report provides a quick overview of the network situation based on the following KPIs:

• Disconnection time: daily average minutes that the users from a MNO have had only emergency coverage or no coverage.
• 4G and 5G time: percentage of time that the users from a MNO have had 4G and, if available, 5G coverage (including 5G NSA and 5G SA).
• 5G penetration and usage: percentage of users that have 5G connectivity, and percentage of time in 5G.
• Network status in the Common Coverage Area: an analysis of the network status, based on the signal strength and the signal quality, for the areas where all two MNOs provide coverage.
• Call type: percentage of use of each call type by operator. This shows which technologies each of their customers primarily use.
• Mobile network latency: percentage of customers on different latency ranks. The ranks are selected according to several performance thresholds.

Summary

The Portuguese telecommunications market is controlled by three operators with their own networks that together hold 96.2% of the market: MEO, NOS and Vodafone. In this competition to increase its customer base, MEO is the number 1 operator in Portugal with 38.1% of the market. Very close are NOS, with 29.8% of the market and Vodafone with 28.3%.

Each operator's network performance is very similar. However, there are some notable differences between them.

If we take into account the disconnection time, NOS is the operator that remains without coverage for the least amount of time compared to its competitors.

Regarding 5G, Vodafone is the operator with the highest percentage of 5G customers (26%), while MEO and NOS are tied with 23% of 5G users.

On the other hand, NOS is the operator that presents the longest 5G coverage time for its 5G clients (77%), while MEO and Vodafone follow closely with 61% and 68% respectively of the 5G coverage time for its 5G clients.

Vodafone is the operator that offers the best quality of 4G and 5G coverage, both in area and in measurements, as it offers a 27% of the area and a 35% of the measurements with a quality rated as at least good. The rest of the operators present a similar quality of 4G and 5G coverage, with MEO and NOS being slightly lower than Vodafone.

If we look at the types of calls, NOS customers use more VoLTE (83%) compared to their competitors, who use VoLTE in 71% of calls (in the case of MEO) and in 60% of calls (in the case of Vodafone).

Finally, regarding latency, in general terms, MEO has better latency than its competitors, with 55% of its measurements being rated as having excellent latency.

The main key figures are the following:

• The three main operators (MEO, NOS and Vodafone) in Portugal provide 4G or 5G coverage to their customers at least 97% of the time.
• 5G is still in the growth phase in the country and the number of 5G users is gradually increasing. The MNO with the most 5G clients is Vodafone (26%), followed by MEO (23%) and NOS (23%).
• Regarding 5G coverage time for 5G customers, NOS provides 5G coverage 77% of the time while Vodafone and MEO reach 68% and 61% respectively.
• VoLTE calls are relevant for MEO, NOS and Vodafone, accounting for at least 60% of total calls. In the case of Vodafone, 3G calls continue to have a great weight, accounting for 29% of calls, with the 3G blackout planned for mid-2024.
• At least 85% of measurements across all carriers have good enough latency for a decent experience across all possible usage types.

Methodology

In the following pages an in-depth description of each analyzed KPI can be found, including the methodology and rationale behind them. At a more general level, the following paragraph describes the data collection methodology.

At a more general level, Weplan Analytics collects crowdsourced data from more than 200 million devices in 31 countries. For this analysis, 600 million measurements collected between October and December 2023 were used.

The following map shows the density of measurements taken throughout Portugal by Weplan Analytics.

As the three aforementioned MNOs serve their networks to other parties (such as VMNOs, due to roaming agreements or as part of emergency coverage) they have been filtered by the network provider reported in the SIM card.

More details about the methodology can be found here.

Connectivity

Connectivity: Daily disconnection time

The following graphic shows the disconnection time as the average number of minutes that each customer of each MNO experiences disconnections throughout the day. Disconnection time includes moments when a customer has no coverage at all (such as underground parkings, inside elevators, so far away from an antenna that connection is not possible...) or moments when a customer only has emergency coverage, that is, the ability to perform only emergency calls. This disconnected time may (and, in most cases, will) be discontinuous, and is the average of the daily disconnection time for all users.

Among Portuguese operators, NOS has the shortest daily time with disconnections, with only 4 minutes of daily disconnections.

Connectivity: 4G and 5G time

As a result of the development of 5G technology, old technologies such as the 2G and 3G networks are being turned off with the aim of freeing up electromagnetic spectrum to make room for more modern technologies such as 4G and 5G. This is because the frequencies are limited, so it is necessary to turn off the old ones so that the new ones can occupy those frequencies. Thus, one of the main objectives of operators is to guarantee at least adequate 4G coverage, and for those that already meet this objective, the focus turns to 5G.

Regarding 4G and 5G connectivity, it can be considered excellent work by the three operators, who maintain 97% of the time with 4G or higher coverage.

5G penetration and usage

Following the approval of Anacom's¹ spectrum access regulation in October 2020, the final spectrum bidding phase took place at the end of 2021, in the 700 MHz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.6 GHz and 3.6 GHz, in which the three main operators took part: MEO, NOS and Vodafone.

With the end of the spectrum auction, the commercialization of 5G began, with NOS being the first operator to launch 5G in Portugal.

The possibility of a customer to use the 5G network depends on several factors:

1. Their device must be 5G compatible.
2. The MNO must have a 5G network.
3. The client must contract a mobile plan that allows the 5G to be used, since not all MNOs offer full access to the 5G network as part of their regular plans.

The following charts show the percentage of users per MNO that have 5G access, and the percentage of time they are under 5G coverage. To establish whether a user is a 5G client or not, their 5G connectivity has been checked: if they have connected to the 5G network at least once, they are considered 5G clients.

The percentage of 5G clients in Portugal remains low in the three operators analyzed in this section, with Vodafone being the one with the most 5G clients (26%), followed by MEO (23%) and NOS (23%).

Regarding 5G coverage time, there are clear differences between operators: NOS leads this section with 77%, followed by Vodafone with 68% and MEO with 61%.

4G and 5G network status

There are two main network performance indicators used to address the network status: signal strength and signal quality. Each technology has its own measurements, but two great categories can be established:

• Very Good: the network performance for all usages should be excellent.
• Good: the network performance for all usages may present occasional difficulties but is good overall.
• Fair: most network network-dependent usages (such as calls or data usage) will have at least a decent performance.
• Degraded: network usage may be unstable and unreliable but allows for basic usage such as calls with acceptable quality and very slow data transfer rate.
• Very Degraded: apart from emergency calls network usage is nearly impossible.

There are two ways to analyze these categories: by percentage of covered area or by percentage of measurements.

Most measurements take place in urban areas, where coverage is better.

However, it is important to note that in most countries the majority of the territory is not urban, so the percentage of area with a problematic network situation may be different from the percentage of measurements with a problematic network situation.

To ensure a fair comparison between carriers only areas with presence of all three operators will be included.

In general, all operators offer fair coverage in the common coverage area in Portugal.

Vodafone presents the best result with 78% of the area rated as at least fair. Following Vodafone is MEO with 72% and NOS with 68%. Furthermore, it is important to highlight that Vodafone is the operator with the largest area rated as good, with 26%.

If you look at the measurements rather than the area, the overall situation is very similar. Vodafone is the operator with the best results, since 41% of the measurements are classified as at least good. MEO and NOS are tied with 35% of the measurements.

Percentage by call type

Although 2G and 3G technologies allow the use of data, the development of 4G and 5G has left these technologies largely relegated to use in phone calls.

However, not all customers can benefit from VoLTE calls, since in order for them to be used, the following conditions must be met:

1. Your MNO must provide 4G and VoLTE.
2. They must have a phone capable of making VoLTE calls and a mobile plan that includes VoLTE.
3. Your phone must be approved by the MNO and the manufacturer to make VoLTE calls.

The last condition means that a customer, without changing their phone, can have VoLTE with one operator, but not have it with another. When a 4G connected customer without VoLTE capability (for any reason) attempts to make a call, a handover process to the 2G or 3G network occurs.

This process, depending on the method applied, is called CSFB (the most common) or SRVCC. In addition, there is also VoWiFi (Voice over Wi-Fi) technology, which is used when a Wi-Fi network is available.

In Portugal, VoLTE technology is the most used by MEO, NOS and Vodafone customers. It is in the NOS operator where we find the highest percentage of use of VoLTE calls, with 83%. In second place we find MEO with 71%, and somewhat further from Vodafone, with 60%. It is interesting to see that Vodafone is the operator with the highest percentage of 3G calls, with 29%.

Latency status

Latency is the measurement of how much time it takes for the information to be transmitted between the user and the network. A lower latency means a faster, and smoother network experience, whereas a higher latency means that the network experience will not be as good, or even unusable. This makes latency a good indicator for user experience. We have divided latency in four main groups:

• Excellent latency: very smooth user experience, even with the most data-intensive usage, such as gaming or 4K streaming.
• Good latency: good user experience, although gaming may not be as fluid and 4K may present occasional problems.
• Degraded latency: mediocre user experience. Gaming and 4K are either uncomfortable or impossible, videochat may present noticeable lag, messaging with multimedia may take a long time to load and loading a web may be slow.
• Bad latency: essentially unusable network. Only the lightest usage, such as sending messages without multimedia works decently.

The three MNOs present a similar latency situation, with at least 85% of their measurements rated as good or excellent. MEO leads this category, with 55% of its measurements rated excellent. It is followed by NOS and Vodafone with 51% and 48% respectively. Finally, all operators have a similar percentage of measurements with bad latency or degraded latency.