Portuguese full-service telecoms operators Vodafone and Nos have signed an agreement with rural wholesale provider dstelecom, which will see the three companies collaborate on the deployment of up to 1.2 million fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) lines in areas not covered by an existing network sharing agreement between Vodafone and Nos.
In February 2010 dstelecom – a joint venture between national construction group DST and Portuguese conglomerate Sonaecom – was awarded a 20-year contract to deploy open-access fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) networks covering rural municipalities in the North, Alentejo and Algarve regions of Portugal. The fibre-optic network was opened to operators in January 2014, and today covers a total of 90 municipalities.
TeleGeography notes that rival wholesale operator Fibroglobal counts PT Portugal (MEO) as a minor shareholder and has faced repeated accusations from Vodafone and Nos that its prices are too high.