Portugal

The Portuguese Republic (Portuguese: República Portuguesa) is a democratic republic located on the west and southwest parts of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe, and is the westernmost country in continental Europe. Portugal is bordered by Spain to the north and east and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south. In addition, Portugal includes two archipelagos in the Atlantic, Azores (Açores) and Madeira Islands.

Transportation and communications

Main articles: Transportation in Portugal and Communications in Portugal

Related Topics:
Transportation in Portugal - Communications in Portugal

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Transportation was seen as a priority in the 1990s, pushed by the growing use of automobiles and industrialization. The country has a 68,732 km network of highways. 1,300 km is the total length of 44 freeways that connect most of the country. {{Inote | Grande Enciclopédia Universal, page 10544, "Portugal", paragraph 2}}

Related Topics:
Highway - Freeway

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Seaports are important due to Portugal's large coastline, and its strategic position in Europe and in the Atlantic ocean. The main seaports are Lisbon in the centre, Leixões (Porto) in the North, Setúbal and Sines in the south, Funchal and Ponta Delgada in the Atlantic. The most important airports are those of Lisbon, Faro and Porto, these last two had extensive development recently. There are also important airports in the islands, such has the airport of Funchal (Madeira Island), Porto Santo (Porto Santo Island), and Ponta Delgada (Azores).{{Inote | Grande Enciclopédia Universal, page 10544, "Portugal", paragraph 3}}

Related Topics:
Sines - Funchal - Ponta Delgada - Porto Santo

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The two principal metropolitan areas have metro systems: Lisbon Metro and Porto Metro, both with more than 35 km of commercial lines. Both metro systems are linked by sharing stations with High-speed Pendolino trains that link both cities. The South Tagus Metro system is in construction and will connect the urban areas south of Lisbon. Another metro system for Coimbra is intended.

Related Topics:
Lisbon Metro - Porto Metro - Pendolino - South Tagus Metro

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The Pendolino lines (Alfa pendular) of Comboios de Portugal (CP) links Braga, Porto, Coimbra, Lisbon and Faro, linking the country in a vertical way. Intercity and regional trains link these cities with many other cities throughout the country. Construction of a high-speed TGV line connecting Porto and Lisbon, and these with Spanish cities will begin within a couple of years. A new airport for Lisbon is also planned but many consider it will be too far from Lisbon. These two projects are seen as the chief aspirations for the near future in transportation.

Related Topics:
Comboios de Portugal - Braga - Porto - Coimbra - Lisbon - Faro

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In the technology area, Portugal has one of the highest mobile phone possession rates in the world (over 100%), there have been more mobile phone subscribers than main line subscribers for several years now. Third generation mobile phones, UMTS, have been largely commercialized by operators since early 2004. The main telecom company is PT (Portugal Telecom), a telecommunications multinational, it dominates some markets, among them the national one. In the mobile section, the market is split between three operators: TMN (PT group), Vodafone, and Optimus (SONAE group), but competition is growing with the appearance of two promising national upstarts: Rede 4 and Uzo.

Related Topics:
UMTS - TMN - Vodafone - Optimus - SONAE group - Rede 4 - Uzo

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Strangely, while having such a high mobile phone rate, Portugal has one of the lowest Internet penetration rates in the EU. More than 8% (4th quarter, 2004) of the population use high-speed internet services, almost twice as much as the previous year. 41% of households in Portugal had a computer in the first quarter of 2004, only 26% of the population had Internet; an additional 4% also used it. 78% of companies with more than 10 employees had Internet access. Competition between the major broadband Internet providers of the PT and Clix groups has recently caused large increases in the available bandwidth provided to home users (from 512 kbit/s and 1 Mbit/s to 2 and 4 Mbit/s), speeds go up to 16 Mbit/s in Clix (SONAE group) lines and 8 Mbit/s in other companies, most notably PT Group cable and ADSL companies, where a 20Mbit/s service is expected to be launched in late 2005, to compete with the much lower-priced services of Clix, although PT group is the leader of the market. Main television broadcasters are the state-run RTP1 and RTP2 and the privately owned SIC and TVI. Most Portuguese see television through cable (by June 2004: 73.6% of households), where the major broadcasters have thematic channels. The main cable company TV Cabo (PT group) is trying to shift all of its customer's services to digital after an unsuccessful experience with Interactive TV.

Related Topics:
SONAE group - TV Cabo

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