Advanced Television

nowo

Digi Portugal’s Nowo acquisition approved

The Portuguese Regulatory Authority for Social Communication (ERC) has greenlit Digi Portugal’s purchase of Cabonitel, the parent company of Nowo. This acquisition will indirectly grant Digi Portugal full ownership of Nowo, the country’s fourth largest telecommunications provider with a 5 per cent share and around 270,000 mobile network and around 130,000 fixed network customers. Nowo […]

September 20, 2024From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Portuguese: Pay-TV subs growth slows

Portugal’s pay-TV market reached 4.6 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter of 2024, an increase of 86,000 or 1.9 per cent from Q2 2023. This represents the lowest growth rate since the end of 2013, according to data published by the National Communications Authority (Anacom). The residential segment accounted for the vast […]

September 9, 2024From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Digi acquires Portugal’s Nowo

Romanian telco Digi has secured a deal to purchase Portuguese operator Nowo from Spanish firm Lorca JVCO (a joint venture between Orange and MásMóvil) for €150 million. The acquisition, subject to approval by the Competition Authority and the National Communications Authority (Anacom), marks a significant step for Digi as it expands its operations in Portugal. […]

August 5, 2024From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Portugal blocks Vodafone’s takeover of Nowo

Portugal’s competition regulator, Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC), has shot down Vodafone Portugal’s attempt to acquire telecom company Nowo. The AdC fears the merger would hurt consumers by limiting competition in the Portuguese telecom market, by increasing market power for Vodafone and its main competitors (Meo and NOS), creating conditions for coordinated offers among them, and […]

July 8, 2024From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Portugal: AdC blocks Vodafone’s acquisition of Nowo

Vodafone Portugal’s attempt to buy Portuguese telecom operator Nowo, first announced in September 2022, has been thwarted by Portugal’s Competition Authority (AdC). The AdC issued a draft decision opposing the deal due to concerns it would stifle competition in the telecommunications sector. The AdC believes Nowo puts pressure on existing operators to offer competitive prices. […]

March 26, 2024From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Portuguese antitrust probes Vodafone, Nowo deal

The Autoridade da Concorrência (AdC), Portugal’s Competition Authority, has launched an in-depth investigation into Vodafone Portugal’s acquisition of local quad-play provider Nowo, expressing competition concerns. The antitrust authority justified its decision with the fact that, “given the evidence so far, it cannot be excluded that the merger will significantly impede effective competition in the national […]

April 6, 2023From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Portugal: Pay-TV subs up 3.1%

Portugal ended 2022 with 4.5 million pay-TV subscribers, an increase of 3.1 per cent on the previous year and good for a 96.4 per cent penetration rate for the service (+2.7 per cent). According to figures released by the National Communications Authority (Anacom), FTTH technology accounted for 2.7 million subscribers or 60.8 per cent of […]

March 10, 2023From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Court: ‘Portugal’s AV tax in line with European law’

The Court of Justice of the European Union (EU) has ruled that the audiovisual tax, collected from pay-TV operators in Portugal, is not contrary to EU Law. In its judgment, the Court of Justice established that the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU) “does not preclude national legislation which imposes a charge intended […]

October 28, 2022From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Portugal: Telcos add TVI Player streaming platform

Portuguese media group Media Capital has rolled out its streaming platform, TVI Player, to subscribers of the four main telecom operators in Portugal. The dedicated TVI Player app has been added to the set-top boxes of Meo (Altice Portugal), NOS, Vodafone Portugal and Nowo. All content on the OTT service is available throughout Portugal at […]

October 18, 2022From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Vodafone Portugal to acquire Nowo

Vodafone Portugal has entered into an agreement with Llorca JVCO Limited, shareholder of Másmóvil Ibercom, SA, for the purchase of Cabonitel SA, owner of Portugal’s  fourth largest multiplay operator Nowo Communications. Nowo has some 250,000 mobile service subscribers and 140,000 fixed access customers (pay-TV and broadband) in approximately 1 million homes covered by its communications […]

October 3, 2022By Colin Mann