The Portuguese authorities has requested a derogation on the following grounds:
- Portugal Telecom must significantly rebalance its tariffs,
- telephone density is low.
The rate of digitalization of the local switches should, according to Portugal, reach 97 % in 1998, which is well ahead in comparison with other Community operators such as Deutsche Telekom or Telecom Italia. However, telephone penetration for voice-telephony is still very low in Portugal, by comparison with the rest of the Community.
