Operators invest up to 2.8 billion to deploy 5G in Portugal
The investment needed to implement the fifth generation of the mobile network (5G) in Portugal ranges between 2.5 and 2.8 billion euros, estimates a consultant KPMG. This is the range of investment values that telecommunications companies will have to make together, over the next five years, after having secured the spectrum in the 5G auction. The auction ended on October 27th. NOS, Altice, Vodafone, Nowo, Dixarobil and Dense Air secured tracks.
“These values consider the different elements of infrastructure necessary for a potential universalization of different 5G services in the national territory, both in local coverage (radio network) and in the required base connections (transport and backbone) “, explained Diogo Sousa, Leading Global Customer Partner, Head of Telco CoE of KPMG. Dinheiro Vivo spoke with the Dutch consultancy’s partner at Web Summit, on the sidelines of the manager’s participation in a panel on digital and energy transitions in Portugal.
According to Diogo Sousa, from the TMT (Technology, Media and Telecommunications) sector, “it is no longer vertical, it is now transversal to all other sectors, which will help the digital transition in different industries.” Now, in terms of infrastructure, it is the area of telecommunications that assumes a responsibility, in the current context of economic recovery, “essential in the technological reconversion” of the country.
Due to the importance of telecommunications, the manager of KPMG is a specialist in telco, revealed that, to materialize the necessary investment by operators, the adoption of 5G, “in conjunction with other technologies such as A cloud and CSCloud“, will boost” the generation of 10.2 billion euros of incremental value in the national economy “within five years.
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It is estimated that 5G will impact, above all, industrial production, connected health, intelligent transport and logistics activities, as well as environmental monitoring, games, reality and virtual reality. But for the “effective unlocking” of 10.2 billion in the national economy, “the national ecosystem has resources, skills and proposals in the different areas of the value chain: connectivity, value-added services, hardware and software.”
Delay on 5G can be beneficial after all
KPMG’s calculations were shared with DV a week after the 5G auction ended. Asked about the impact of the ten-month delay in concluding the multi-band auction and period of time, Diogo Sousa explained that, despite the slippage of timings, all competitors were able to access the spectrum. “This is the starting point looking forward. players took advantage of these ten months to deepen their position in the market, “he stressed, noting that operators had time to test the technology enough, in order to now be able to” make better decisions on how they will apply investments “in the new network.
“They took advantage of this time to have a more accurate shot. Let’s believe that the various shots they will take from now on will be more accurate shots, in terms of the services to be provided, in which segments and in which return, and in what form they will do it”.
In other words, the extra time, in theory wasted in the auction, may have given the telecommunications time for the invested funds to now have “a greater possibility of return than they would have with more uncertainties”, regarding the preparation of the country’s technology to receive the 5G.