| Type | Private company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Mobile Telecommunications |
| Founded | 1991 |
| Headquarters | Avenida D. João II, 1.04.01, 1990 Lisbon, Portugal |
| Products | Mobile Networks, Telecom Services, etc. |
| Revenue | € ? billion (2006) |
| Operating income | € ? billion (2006) |
| Net income | € ? billion (2006) |
| Parent | Vodafone Group Plc |
| Website | Vodafone Portugal website |
Vodafone Portugal, a full subsidiary of the Vodafone Group, is the second mobile operator in Portugal, both chronologically and in market share (34% in 2006). Its competitors are Optimus and TMN.
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Vodafone Portugal was founded in 1991 as Telecel, Comunicações Pessoais, S.A. (Telecel) as it won the bid for Portugal's second GSM operator (after TMN).
The network went live in October 1992.
In 1996, the "pre-paid" concept was introduced with the launch of tariff plan Vitamina. Telecel also held a paging license and was leader in the 4-player paging business, using the brand Telechamada.
In January 2000, the indirect access fixed-line telephone service was launched, using Portugal Telecom's infrastrutctures and the 1091 prefix. It used the brands toq 1091 (for the home costumers; now discontinued in favour of Vodafone at Home/Vodafone Casa) and Voz Pri (for the business costumers; still used as part of the business solutions).
In May of the same year, Telecel entered the Internet Service Provider and web portal businesses under the brand Netc (pronounced "netcetera"). The business model was lifted from successful Freeserve, a British non-subscription ISP.
The initial group of shareholders was led by Portuguese investment bank Banco Espírito Santo, Portuguese conglomerate Amorim and USA's Pacific Telesis, owner of mobile operator PacTel Cellular.
PacTel Cellular was spun off in 1994 as AirTouch, which in turn merged in 1999 with British operator Vodafone. Thus, Telecel became minority-owned by the Vodafone Group.
Telecel was listed on the Euronext-Lisbon Stock Exchange. Banco Espírito Santo and Amorim used the IPO and subsequent sales to sell out with considerable gains, and the Vodafone Group eventually took a controlling share.
In 2003 the Vodafone Group launched a successful tender offer for all outstanding shares not in its possession, thus becoming the full owner of then-called Telecel-Vodafone. The company was definitely renamed Vodafone Portugal and delisted.
The CEO since the start was António Carrapatoso. Now new CEO is Antonio Coimbra.
In 2002, when Telecel was already controlled by the Vodafone Group, the parent company decided to implement the Vodafone brand worldwide, in order to achieve synergies and improve brand awareness. Telecel was the first operator to initiate the process. This was achieved in three steps: 1. putting Vodafone after Telecel, thus referring to the company as Telecel Vodafone; 2. after six months, exchanging the order to Vodafone Telecel; and 3. after another six months (already in 2003), dropping the Telecel brand altogether. Throughout the process, market research showed no confusion and no loss of awareness of both the brands and the operator. This had been a concern for Vodafone for Telecel was a top-ten advertiser, which had led to develop a brand with the highest recall indexes.
In 2002, the Netc ISP and web portal were rebranded Vizzavi, Vodafone's multimedia brand in association with Vivendi Universal.
In 2003, when paging was moribund as mobile phones had become so ubiquitous, the Telechamada business was abandoned and the license was returned to the State.
In 2003, the Vizzavi ISP business was sold to competitor IOL, a unit of Portuguese media group Media Capital, and the web portal was closed down as Vodafone live! was launched.
In 2006, Vodafone Portugal disconnected the Cell Broadcast service.
Vodafone Portugal also provides ADSL2+ services, including VoIP telephone service and IPTV, under the brand Vodafone Casa.
Despite being branded as part of the international Vodafone group Vodafone Portugal share none of the renowned customer service of its UK parent. It remains little more than a rebranded version of Telecel. That is to say they suffer the problems of many bloated, inefficient Portuguese companies with the same short-sighted staff, inflexible, slow processes resulting in often extremely poor customer service.
Like parent company, Vodafone Portugal's fiscal year runs from April to March.
Results 2Q06:
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