Alberto Souto de Miranda the deputy state secretary for communications said: "I have the great pleasure to announce that, in September, I will promote a national conference for the 5G strategy to be announced, based on realistic possibilities of what the country needs," he said.

Souto de Miranda was speaking during the launch of an optical fibre infrastructure project that was carried out by Altice Portugal and presented at the company's data centre in Covilhã, in the district of Castelo Branco in central Portugal.

He also highlighted the importance of these investments and that the government was committed to supporting all initiatives that have the aim to make broadband internet "a reality and for it to reach the country's most unlikely places."

Stressing the importance of the investment made by Altice Portugal, Souto de Miranda said the authorities counted on the company for the "new challenges" that are presented with the implementation of a "new mobile generation, with speeds up to a hundred times faster, with latencies 50 times lower and with a capacity to connect one hundred times more objects."

Regarding the country's national strategy for 5G, he said the country was carrying out a trip throughout the "technological country, the university country and the business country" to understand what is needed, since the government wants a plan that corresponds to the "needs of the country, the expectations of operators and their possibilities."