Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

Honourable Minister for the Environment,
Honourable President of the Portuguese Association for the Development of Communications,
Honourable Conference Chairman,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the opening of one more Conference on Communications I am pleased to greet all the participants. Now in its eighteenth edition, this discussion forum has accompanied the deep changes felt in the communications sector and their impact in Europe and the World.

I am particularly pleased with the theme chosen for this Conference: “Information and Communication Technologies and Climate Change”. Global warming is, in reality, a central issue in these days. Decisions taken at this time – or their absence – will have very serious consequences for the future of the coming generations.

We have to be able – State, enterprises and people – to rise to the challenge which represents the decoking of our model of development, investing in clean technologies, in renewable energies and in energy efficiency.

In this perspective, information and communication technologies are, at the same time, part of the problem and part of the solution.

On the one hand, it is fundamental to improve the performance, in the case of energy and CO2, of equipment which operates with information and communication technologies.

On the other hand, a greater recourse to information and communication technologies could lead to a significant reduction in the emissions of hothouse gases in many sectors of activity, both in the case of energy consumption and, upstream, in a more intelligent management of production, by opening the way to renewable energies.

In its turn, the telecommunications sector is going through a turning point, facing new challenges and opportunities associated to the progressive technological and industrial convergence of the communications and contents sectors.

The opening of this sector to competition which took place in the last decade brought a strong impulse in the matter of technological innovation, in the creation of positive external influences in the adjacent sectors, and in the creation of employment with a highly technological content. It encouraged investment in new infrastructure, in new technologies and in new products and services, For the consumer, market liberalization meant broader and innovatory supply, better quality of service and lower prices.

It must be accepted, however, that not all the targets were met and that not all consumers and enterprises, especially those located outside the larger urban or major industrial centres, have benefited from the effects of technological modernization, innovation or competition.

If, in the more populous areas, the competitive environment meant the availability of several technological access platforms, the same cannot be said of the less populous zones. In these, the supply is more limited and the competition low or even non-existent. But what is more serious is the trend towards the digital exclusion of the zones with less purchasing power, whether located in urban or rural areas.

The social relevance of the new digital route for citizens and enterprises to fully enter the information and knowledge society, demands that the public powers guarantee conditions of equal access to the new technological platforms. And the route cannot but be an incentive to competition.

The negative discrimination in the access to communications is a failure in the market which places national cohesion at risk. If it is not fought against, it will aggravate the already severe socio-economic and demographic problems which some regions are facing, giving rise, in the medium term, to new outbreaks of social exclusion.

I have sustained the need for a reinforced regard by the public powers to the grievous issue which is the decline of population in the interior of the Country. The procedure for the diffusion of the access to digital technologies cannot, in itself, contribute to perpetuate or worsen development disparities, paradoxically aggravating inequality and social exclusion.

It is thus necessary to muster the tools of public policies for an effective intervention for the purpose of reducing disparities in the conditions of access, speed, quality of service and price of communications.

Public policies and regulation must specially act in areas where competition is limited, or simply inexistent, guaranteeing the cover of national territory in conditions of equity, in order to safeguard the principle of universality.

Currently, the digital communications networks, such as is the case with roadways, condition the location of economic activities and the distribution of employment, and are a relevant factor in regional development. The new high speed networks will naturally tend towards becoming a determining role in this process.

Without these new networks, the performance of local authority investment in innovation and knowledge will be harmed, and the risk of worsening new territorial inequalities will be significant. It is not enough to reinforce the existing physical accessibilities. It is necessary that new alternatives are set up for the connection of people and enterprises to the market.

The investment of several municipalities in the building of high debit communications infrastructure will allow providing some regions with common use networks open to all operators who may want to establish their business there. It is thus required, in these cases, that regulatory devices guarantee all operators a real and healthy competition environment, through complying with rules of equity in the access to the consumer.

As I previously stated we are going through a period of great change in this sector, with deep repercussions in operators and investors, as well as in workers and consumers.

The great uncertainty associated to investment in new infrastructure is well known, either due to the fast technological process, or to the long payback periods, or even to its virtually irreversible nature.

I am certain that this Conference will, once again, provide a relevant contribution for the progress of the communications sector, in a framework of healthy market competition, and for the reinforcement of the role of the information and communication technologies in overcoming the great challenges we are facing, both nationally and in Europe as well as on a global scale.
I wish you all very fruitful work.

Thank you.