Telecommunication in Portugal
Compared to the United States, Portugal is at the forefront of the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +351, there were a total of 17.76 million connections in 2021. Among them were 12.45 million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.2 per person. In the US, this figure is 1.1 mobile phones per person.With about 3.75 million webhosts, Portugal is below the world's average by population. At the end of 2020, 228,378 of these, or about 6 percent, were secured with SSL or comparable encryption.
Back to overview: Portugal
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 131.91 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, Portugal ranks 22nd in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 89.65 Mbit/second (21st place).In mobile internet, i.e., on tablets and smartphones, Portugal comes 27th with a download speed of 69.08 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 13 Mbit was only enough for 37th place.
The Speedtest Global Index published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in February 2023 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100 percent mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the internet in Portugal from 1990 - 2021
Broadband internet in Portugal 1999 - 2021
Portugal is doing very well in the expansion of broadband internet connections. Around 82 percent of all residents have access to the internet. Around 42 percent have their own fast internet connection, which is at least faster than the former ISDN (more than 256 kbit/s). All fixed connections via DSL, cable or satellite were counted here, but not those connected to the internet via mobile communications. Landlines 1990 - 2021
Mobile phones 1990 - 2021
| Distribution in 2021 | Portugal Total | Portugal percent | USA Total | USA percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet users | 8.50 m | 82.31 % | 304.52 m | 91.75 % |
| Broadband users | 4.31 m | 41.78 % | 125.89 m | 37.93 % |
| Landlines | 5.32 m | 51.52 % | 97.82 m | 29.47 % |
| Mobile cellulars | 12.45 m | 120.53 % | 361.66 m | 108.97 % |
Country comparison: Portugal / United States of America
Chinese - Worldwide distribution