According to the National Communications Authority (Anacom), “the difference has narrowed with the entry into force on 15 May 2019 of the new European rules regulating prices for intra-European Union communications".

"A closer comparative analysis of some nearby countries shows that a pattern of price divergence will have been in place from 2011-2012," the statement said, noting that "telecommunications prices in Portugal rose 6.5 percent, while in Spain, Italy and France they fell by 9.4 percent, 16.9 percent and 24.3 percent respectively between the end of 2009 and December 2020.

The differences between telecommunications price developments in Portugal and in the European Union (+17.3 percentage points in cumulative terms) "are mainly due to 'price adjustments' that providers have implemented, usually in the first months of each year," Anacom said.

"Also according to Eurostat, in December 2020 the average rate of change over the last twelve months in the prices of telecommunications services in Portugal was 2.1 percentage points lower than the EU average, with Portugal being the 23rd country with the highest price increases," Anacom points out.

Regarding mobile data, Anacom said that Portugal "is the fifth EU country with the highest prices".

That is, if only mobile data prices are considered, last year "Portugal was the fifth EU-27 country with the highest average price of 1GB of mobile data, 45 percent above average, according to the study 'Worldwide mobile data pricing 2020' developed by Cable.co.uk".
Above Portugal were Cyprus, Greece, the Czech Republic and Hungary.