Fitch predicts low 5G adoption by Portuguese companies
The agency says 5G in Portugal will be more relevant for consumers than businesses because of the country's low level of industrialisation and slow pace of digital service adoption.
Operators believe 5G will have a transformative impact on Portuguese businesses. But for Fitch, the country may not be in a position to harness this potential.
The warning is part of a Fitch report on telecommunications in Portugal. Anacom has made available an interpretative summary of the document.
According to that summary, the agency believes that video games and streaming will take on greater weight in commercial offerings.
The position is contrary to what has been the industry narrative. And if confirmed, it could frustrate the expectations of companies such as Meo, Nos and Vodafone, which have been investing to accelerate the availability of 5G to citizens and businesses.
“Although the great potential of 5G lies in the solutions it can provide to the business sector (…), the relatively low level of industrialisation in the country and the generically slow pace in the adoption of digital services and infrastructure lead experts to predict that its use will be limited in Portuguese industry,” the report says.
“This is one of the reasons for the consultancy to believe that 5G players will turn, above all, to consumers,” says the summary article on Anacom’s website.
In other words, for Fitch – according to Anacom – “individual users represent the safest path for operators to recover their investment” and not a solution for companies. “The reasons for this are the structural conditions that have historically been pointed out with chronic disadvantages hindering the competitiveness of Portuguese companies,” reads the summary.
