Portugal Telecom and Vodafone Portugal have both announced the launch of mobile broadband services on their LTE networks.

Number-one operator Portugal Telecom is offering mobile broadband through its TMN mobile brand and MEO ISP with theoretical peak download speeds of up to 100Mb/s, seven times faster than 3G. The company aims to have 80 percent of the population covered by the service by the end of April and 90 percent by the end of the year.

Portugal Telecom executive president Zeinal Bava said the new services will provide benefits for the education and healthcare sectors by making it easier to deliver e-learning and remote clinical consultations and diagnosis. The company is offering two tariffs – 50Mb/s and 100Mb/s – starting at EUR49.99 per month.

Vodafone Portugal has also launched its 4G mobile broadband service, covering much of Lisbon and Porto as well as other district capitals. It plans to extend coverage to the rest of the country in due course.

Like Portugal Telecom, Vodafone will offer two tariffs of 50Mb/s and 100Mb/s, priced at EUR49.99 and EUR59.99 respectively.

The company also announced its 4G Pioneers campaign, which offers a 50 percent discount on the price of the Vodafone Connect Pen K5005 USB modem and on monthly charges for plans taken out for 24 months.

The auction for the 4G spectrum band used by both companies for their LTE services took place late last year. Sonaecom’s Optimus network also secured LTE spectrum in the auction.