About

Portugal Telecom (PT) occupies a position at the top of the telecoms landscape in Portugal, operating the largest landline network in the country via their wholly-owned subsidiary MEO. PT has a highly diversified revenue base of over €2.7bn and provides employment for over 10,000 individuals, as of 2014. The telecoms sector requires constant innovation and the deployment of new and cutting edge technologies in order to gain an advantage over competitors. This means that the PT legal team, headed by Sónia Machado, is required to keep pace not only with new technology but also adapt to and even mould the regulatory frameworks relating to often untested and boundary-pushing products. On top of this, the company plans regular expansions of its network, creating a constant need for the team to support infrastructure projects – a recent example being the launch of their super-fast fibre optic broadband service in Vagos, part of an ambitious development to provide 5.3 million homes and businesses with such service before 2020. In addition, PT recently underwent a huge change in organisation when it was purchased by international telecoms operator Altice Group. This change removed PT from the Portuguese stock exchange and fundamentally altered internal business dynamics. Machado leads the team expertly, being a seasoned telecommunications lawyer with more than 22 years’ experience with PT, and a postgraduate qualification in communications law.