ADSL has surpassed for the first time cable modem access on the Portugese broadband market, representing 52 percent of total internet accesses in Portugal, according to the country’s telecom regulator ANACOM. At the end of May, there were 499,000 ADSL clients in Portugal, while cable modem access was used by 464,000 clients. ADSL access has registered a growth of 18.7 percent, which corresponds to 79,000 clients, while cable modem access grew by 6.6 percent or 29,000 accesses. At the end of the first quarter of 2005, there were 966,000 broadband internet users in Portugal – including those who access the web via ADSL, cable modem or other forms, such as FWA (fixed access via radio) for example – which represents a 9.2 percent penetration rate, compared to 5.5 percent in the same period last year. The number of broadband users increased by 12.5 percent compared to the previous quarter, which corresponds to a growth of 107,000 clients. At the end of the first quarter there were 4.21 million dial-up access clients (81.9 percent of the total), up 8.4 percent on the previous quarter. The grand total of internet clients in Portugal is 5.18 million users, up 9.2 percent on the previous quarter and up 47.8 percent on the first quarter of 2004.
