Ana Figueiredo outlines Meo’s ambition to double its revenue from non-telecommunications activities in the next three years.
When discussing sector consolidation, she believes national consolidation is “inevitable,” and European consolidation is even more so, given there are about 40 telecom operators or groups for a population “slightly larger than the American population,” which has three operators.
Portugal, with around 10 million inhabitants, has four operators. Spain, “perhaps five or six times more populous,” and countries like France or Germany, “with eight times more people,” have the same number of operators, she points out.
“I think consolidation will be necessary, it will be inevitable,” she asserts, emphasizing that “scale is everything” in technology.
Figueiredo compares them with large global tech players who are “global, not national.”
These players “always thought globally when they started investing, not limiting operations to one geography or territory or even just one continent,” she continues.
In this global space, “we must also manage to compete globally, with capacity and strength,” Figueiredo highlights.
The Meo CEO insists that Portugal “must seriously consider that only through a strong industrial policy” can it “guarantee its digital sovereignty,” a crucial issue today given the emergence of two major blocs, potentially increasing exposure to international contexts.
Telecommunications is regarded as a “fundamental” sector, similarly vital to ensuring “energetic sovereignty,” she notes.
“This is why energetic and digital sovereignty are two revolutions happening simultaneously,” making it “very important” to ensure this from an economic and national perspective.
Regarding Meo’s voluntary departure program, Figueiredo did not provide figures as the process is ongoing.
“This program aims at renewing competencies within our company” and to consider “the generation likely to leave, which has significantly contributed but now necessitates a renewal of skills due to new challenges we face,” explains the CEO.
The program “is not yet fully concluded but is an opportunity within this framework of renewing our operational level and automation, complemented by the company’s recent investments,” she adds.
Recently, Meo onboarded new interns and will “obviously continue to recruit for key competencies deemed essential for Meo’s future,” both present and ahead.
On September 11, the internship of 24 young professionals in STEM fields commenced, alongside the integration of 50 former interns from the 2024/2025 edition into the workforce.
“It’s evident we’re not replacing people with machines. We’re renewing needed competencies to take Meo to another level,” asserts the CEO.
Discussing diversification efforts, Figueiredo emphasized Meo’s status as an integrated operator.
“We are the only operator in the market equipped with all infrastructures,” including satellites, data centers, submarine cable landing stations, fiber optics networks, and 5G, “the traditional telecom operator setup.”
“Our revenue diversification is driven by investment in the B2B [business] segment, particularly ICT components, combining connectivity with IT and digital security,” she states.
For consumer services, “we’ve been innovating by providing more services to our clients, such as Meo Energia. We’ve also grown through Labs,” which transitioned from a simple laboratory to a business line exporting Portuguese technology globally, facilitating growth beyond borders.
“We aim to continue growing, continue leading, setting the goal to double what we call non-telco revenue in the next three years,” she states.
This is “preparing the company for the great challenges, including artificial intelligence, positioning us as a significant player in ‘edge computing,'” utilizing unique infrastructures, with a strategy aptly suited for forthcoming challenges, she emphasizes.
However, “a context conducive to investment acceleration, not the opposite, is crucial for the country,” highlighting the importance of a “proper and balanced” industrial and regulatory policy.
