“If you ask me in the long term, I don’t believe there is a market in Portugal for four operators,” stated the executive during a media briefing at the company’s headquarters in Parque das Nações, Lisbon, marking the company’s 33rd anniversary.
“Either it consolidates or shuts down, something must happen,” continued Luís Lopes, emphasizing that it is scale that makes operators more competitive.
When questioned about the operator’s position—whether to consolidate or be 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 that strong position places it in the position of a potential consolidator.”
Most countries have “three operators, Portugal issued licenses to have five. Halfway through the game, the fifth operator backed out and wanted to be initially acquired by us. It wasn’t possible,” and it was acquired by another, reducing to four.
In Europe, there is a “structural problem” because it “lacks operators with sufficient scale to meet the challenges that other operators, particularly in Asian and North American economies, face,” the executive stated.
In other words, “these operators operate with scales that allow them much higher efficiencies, so they can generate returns that enable them to be much faster and more capable of investing,” he highlighted.
