Portuguese cable, Internet and telecoms operator Zon said its operating performance in the third quarter so far has been positive, with the company further reducing cancellations of pay-TV contracts.

The third quarter is going well, in line with the first six months of the year, Zon CFO Pedro Pereira da Costa told Reuters on Thursday on the sidelines of a conference, explaining that net additions of broadband Internet and fixed-line voice have been strong.

The trend in reducing churn of pay-TV subscribers has been maintained, he added.

In late July, Zon said its main Pay-TV business lost 3,900 clients in the second quarter, marking a strong improvement from the loss of 18,200 TV customers in the January-March period and beating market expectations.

Zon faces strong competition from other operators in Portugal, especially from Portugal Telecom and its Meo triple-play services.

Da Costa added that the company is currently ahead of its plan to cover 2.6 million homes with its new fibre network, with around 1.6 million customers already able to access new services such as faster Internet access.

(Reporting by Shrikesh Laxmidas and Vitor Moreira; editing by Simon Jessop)

Portugal TV