Government considers Altice “strategic asset with importance for national sovereignty”

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The executive led by António Costa, despite resigning, can intervene in a possible sale negotiation, exercising the power of veto, safeguarded by a 2014 decree-law, if this permission is called into question.

The Government guaranteed, this Monday, that it remains attentive to the sale of Altice, despite admitting that there is no official information about the sale.

Information transmitted to the Altice Group Workers Union in Portugal (STPT) and shared in a statement by the union structure. According to STPT, the Secretary of State stressed “that it does not correspond to reality that the Government is more concerned with economic aspects”.

“On the other hand, he stated unequivocally that the Government intends to enforce the provisions of Decree-Law nº 138/14 of 15 September, as it considers Altice Portugal a strategic asset with importance for national sovereignty. He exemplified the importance of submarine cables, antennas and satellites and also mentioned emergency services such as SIRESP”, the union also highlights.

Furthermore, the Secretary of State “stressed that the company cannot be compared with other operators that do not have the same political, economic and social dimension”, highlighting, at the same time, “the historical path of Portugal Telecom, and of the old companies, namely , from The Anglo-Portuguese Telephone Company, Limited, which would originate the TLP and the accumulated knowledge and skills”.

STPT also guarantees that it conveyed to the Government its concern that “the right to information of workers’ representatives, which is provided for in the Labor Code, as well as other worker protection standards, be complied with, with that right being exercised before the sale” .

It should be remembered that the executive led by António Costa, despite resigning, can intervene in a possible sale negotiation, exercising the power of veto, safeguarded by a 2014 decree-law, if this permission is called into question, that is, if the business puts national security or the country’s supply of services considered essential to the national interest at risk.

The workers of the owner of Meo believe that this could happen, also affecting the “job stability of thousands” of the company’s employees.

It should be noted that at the end of January, the STPT requested a new intervention from the Prime Minister on the sale process of Altice Portugal and a legal justification for the matter to have been forwarded to the office of the Secretary of State for Digitalization and Administrative Modernization. The union structure considers that António Costa, despite leading a Government in management, “should not be left out” of this transaction that involves one of the largest telecommunications operators in the country.