History
The first telephone experiments in Portugal connected Carcavelos to the Central do Cabo in Lisbon, in 1877. In 1882, the Edison Gower-Bell Telephone Company was established in both Lisbon and Porto, to develop the respective telephone service concessions. In 1887, the concession was transferred to APT - The Anglo Portuguese Telephone Company, which lasted until 1968, when the Public Company "Telefones de Lisboa e Porto" (TLP) was created. The Post Office, Telegraphs and Telephones (CTT) operated the telephone service in the rest of the country. For the operation of radiotelegraphy and wireless telephone, a contract with the Marconi's Wireless Telegraphy Company concession was confirmed in 1922. In 1925, the "Companhia Portuguesa Rádio Marconi" (CPRM) was set up and took on all responsibilities of the previous concession. In 1970, CTT became a Public Company and in 1989, the TLP was transformed into a Limited Company, and was controlled by the State.
Throughout October 1992, the Portuguese government and the Public Service Television Corporation RTP agreed to separate the transmitter network from the rest of the corporation, transferring it to a recently created state-owned company named "Teledifusão de Portugal" (TDP). The purpose of this was to create a nationwide TV broadcasting network available for any TV station in Portugal to request its services. At the time, RTP (a "native" client of TDP) was facing competition for the first time since its creation in the 1950s. SIC required the services of TDP, but TVI decided to create its own transmitter Network (RETI), RTP's monopoly shaken after 35 years.
In 1992, CTT became a Limited Company with public capital and the Comunicações Nacionais, SPGS, SA (CN) was created, a state holding company responsible for the managing of all state participation within the sector, comprising CTT, TLP, CPRM and TDP. That year, the telecommunications operations of CTT were detached with the creation of Telecom Portugal, SA, allowing CTT to dedicate itself to postal services. With this, Portugal's telecommunications network was operated by three operators: TLP in the Lisbon and Porto areas, Telecom Portugal was responsible for the remaining national, European and Mediterranean communications; and Marconi took on international traffic. In 1994, a single national telecommunications operator was created with the combination of the companies within the CN State holding: Portugal Telecom, SA merged into one Telecom Portugal, TLP and TDP.
Portugal Telecom was the only telephone operator in Portugal, being a monopoly, until 1994,[7] when the government gradually reduced its control over the corporation. In 2000, Portugal Telecom became a publicly owned company.
In 2003, PT Portugal and Telefónica formed a joint venture, at the time, the largest mobile network operator in the Brazilian market and the southern hemisphere, Vivo with more than 30 million customers. PT, because it owned Telesp Celular, maintained a strong position in this partnership (50%). In August 2005, the company was embroiled in the Brazilian political scandal, known as the mensalão scandal, although no evidence was ever presented about the company's involvement.
In early 2007, the Portuguese conglomerate, Sonaecom's takeover offer for PT Portugal failed. PT's board rejected an initial bid, worth EUR 11.1 bn, in February 2006. Sonae.com's takeover bid opposed Belmiro de Azevedo (founder and historical chairman of Sonae holding company) and his son Paulo Azevedo (then the head officer of Sonaecom telecommunications operator) to the investor José Berardo and PT's administrators Zeinal Bava and Henrique Granadeiro. In April 2007 the European Commission gave an ultimatum to the Portuguese government ordering it to give up on the 500 golden shares pack that it owned on the company and that enable special veto powers to the government on vital issues. This could give the government a decisive role in the bid by any company to buy Portugal Telecom. In November 2007, Portugal Telecom spun off its media assets (PT Multimédia), that included TV Cabo and Lusomundo Cinemas, and it changed its name to ZON Multimedia (later by NOS since 2014). In January 2008, the European Commission began legal proceedings against the Portuguese government over its 'golden share' in incumbent telecoms operator Portugal Telecom. The 500 golden shares with extended voting rights, allowing it to block potential takeover bids, were the reason for the commission's legal action. Similarly, in November 2005, the commission had forced the Spanish government to give up its golden share in the other telecommunications' major player in the Iberian Peninsula, the Spanish telecoms giant Telefónica.
In December 2009, Portugal Telecom purchased RETI.
On 2 October 2013 Portugal Telecom and Brazil's Oi said they would combine operations to form a new Brazil-based company with more than 100 million subscribers.[8] The resulting company's provisional name is CorpCo.
On 2 June 2015 Altice announced closing of Portugal Telecom acquisition.[9][10] Paulo Manuel da Conceição Neves was appointed as CEO.[11]
On March 14, 2018, the PT Group was renamed Altice Portugal.
Altice Portugal's headquarters in Lisbon was raided on July 12, 2023, as part of an investigation into suspected corruption, money laundering, and tax fraud.[12]
At end of January, 2025, it was announced that the name Altice would be removed from the majority of the Portuguese assets, and these would instead adopt the name MEO.[13] While the announcement claimed that the rebrand was done to create better brand synergy, many suspect this was the result of the 2023 corruption scandals and Altice Group's financial problems.[14]
CEO
Henrique Granadeiro (was previously manager of PT Portugal) was elected president of telecommunications between 2003 and 2008, when she was replaced by Zeinal Bava on March 31, 2008, which went to the board of directors. In August 2014, Zeinal Bava left the CEO of PT Portugal and Granadeiro resigned.[15]
Armando Almeida replaced Zeinal Bava at the helm of Portugal Telecom on 18 August 2014. Zeinal Bava skipped off to Oi in Brazil.[16]
On 21 November 2017 Paulo Neves resigned as CEO and was replaced by Alexandre Filipe Fonseca.[17] In 2022 Ana Figueiredo was appointed as CEO.[18] Armando Pereira was arrested on July 13, 2023 in Lisbon for corruption and money laundering.[19]
