Portuguese telcos plan to invest $4.9 billion in 5G, satellites over 5 years

LISBON (Reuters) -Portuguese telecoms operators plan to spend 4.2 billion euros ($4.9 billion) on high-speed 5G networks and satellites over the next five years to support major projects such as data centres and AI, the Infrastructure Ministry said on Wednesday.

Operators will also expand the fibre optic network to cover areas still lacking mobile or internet network coverage, as well as road, rail, port and airport infrastructure, the ministry said in a statement.

In Portugal, the three largest telecom operators — Altice, NOS and Vodafone — control more than 90% of the market and account for the bulk of investment.

Microsoft on Tuesday announced a $10 billion investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure at the Start Campus data centre in the port city of Sines, where Portugal has large investment projects lined up to produce green energy to power data centres.

"Portugal's geostrategic location ... is now central to intercontinental connectivity. This is an opportunity that Portugal cannot, nor will it, waste, with the largest technological investment of all time underway in our country," Infrastructure Minister Miguel Pinto Luz said.

Portugal's Atlantic coastline positions it as a prime hub for subsea cables connecting Europe, Africa and the Americas and forming the backbone of the world wide web.

($1 = 0.8575 euros)

(Reporting by Sergio Goncalves; editing by Andrei Khalip and Leslie Adler)