Cláudia Goya, PT’s new CEO: “Four million houses are using Meo’s services”

  • ECO News
  • 7 September 2017

Cláudia Goya, PT's new CEO, announced that Meo's optical fiber is already used in four million houses. And she emphasized: "We want to be a digital player".

This was the first press conference since Cláudia Goya took on the leadership of PT. Paula Nunes / ECO

This Thursday, Meo announced that their optical fiber is now used in four million houses in Portugal. The new CEO Cláudia Goya believes this milestone is “a very important moment” for the company and for Portugal. The announcement was made in the first press conference since the new CEO took office, leading PT Portugal.

“Today we mark a very important moment, not only for PT and Altice, but also for Portugal. We are announcing that Meo’s fiber is now used in four million houses. This important milestone is included in the deployment plan announced in 2015, of having our optical fiber in five million houses in Portugal by 2020. It places PT as a major success example, not only in Portugal, but in Europe and in the world”, the new CEO stated. Goya further stated: “New generation networks are crucial for us. We want to be a leading digital player, focused on convergence, content and advertising”.

According to João Epifânio, PT’s new sales director for the consumers, 66% of the Portuguese territory is already covered by optical fiber, a much higher percentage than the European average — 24%.

Altice Labs is exporting made in Portugal technology

PT Portugal also presented a new point of access to optical fiber called Fiber Gateway. According to the company, it is a router that will allow for 1,000 Mbps’ download and 200 Mbps’ upload speed — more than the common 100 Mbps currently used. The company says they will have “the fastest Wi-Fi speed ever”.

Meo’s new router, Fiber Gateway, was fully developed by Altice Labs in Aveiro, Portugal. Paula Nunes / ECO

It was PT’s CTO Alexandre Fonseca who presented the new device which was developed in Altice Labs, in Aveiro (255 km North from Lisbon). The “made in Portugal” technology is already being altered to suit the North American market.

Altice Labs already works with 700 engineers, under the wing of Alcino Lavrador, who is responsible for the project in all of Altice’s markets. “Alcino Lavrador is in charge of Altice Lab’s operations. This center has 700 highly qualified engineers, working from Aveiro, who are developing hardware and services that reach 35 countries and five continents”, the CTO stated.

The company will build a few more Labs in Portugal, but so far Viseu is the only confirmation.