The executive president (CEO) of Vodafone Portugal, Luís Lopes, considered today that in the long term there is no market in Portugal for four telecommunications operators.
“If you ask me in the long term, I don’t believe it, there is no market in Portugal for four operators”, said the manager, in a meeting with journalists at the company’s headquarters in Parque das Nações, in Lisbon, regarding the celebration of the company’s 33rd anniversary.
“Either it consolidates or closes its doors, something has to happen”, continued Luís Lopes, noting that it is scale that makes operators more competitive.
Asked about the operator’s position – whether it consolidates or is consolidated – Luís Lopes recalled that Vodafone Portugal has a position in the Portuguese market that “is an attractive asset”, but, on the other hand, “having this strong position puts it in a position of consolidating potential”.
Most countries “have three operators, Portugal made licenses to have five, halfway through the game the fifth operator gave up and initially wanted to be bought by us, it wasn’t possible” and was acquired by another, making it four.
In Europe there is “a structural problem” because “there are no operators with sufficient scale that can face the challenges that other operators, particularly in Asian and North American economies have”, stated the manager.
In other words, “these operators operate with scales that allow them much higher efficiencies, therefore they are able to produce a return that allows them to be much faster and more capable of investing”, he highlighted.