Lisbon, May 5, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal’s infrastructure and housing minister said on Tuesday that only 30% of the country’s infrastructure is currently equipped with 5G, meaning that operators must ensure that the implementation of fifth-generation mobile networks is completed.
Miguel Pinto Luz was speaking at the closing of Mastercard’s Innovation Centre of Excellence presentation in Lisbon, where he outlined the investments and the legislation currently being drafted in Portugal, emphasising the need for the complete deployment of 5G Standalone.
“Today, we say we have 5G in Portugal, but we don’t. We only have 30% of our infrastructure on 5G; therefore, it is essential that our telecoms operators ensure the completion of the entire 5G deployment, which is vital for closed 5G networks, for cases linked to industry, healthcare or payment methods,” he said.
In his speech, he said it was essential to provide predictability for investors in Portugal, praising Mastercard for its foresight in leading the innovation agenda in Smart Cities, particularly in enhancing citizen interaction with public administration and services and in developing integrated visions for Mobility as a Service.
He also said that Mastercard chose Portugal for its knowledge and ability to attract investment, and for having mayors such as Carlos Moedas, who was also present at the event.
“Today we are experiencing a hype and a growing desire for the attractiveness of Portugal, but this demands and pressures policymakers at all levels,” he said, adding that “if we do not change this legislative framework to allow those who, like Mastercard, choose Portugal as their destination to set up their innovation centres”, it will not be possible to retain, attract and bring in more investment.
"We are legislating for drone testing, for drone airspace management, for new sandboxes in the field of artificial intelligence, and we are leading the agenda, particularly with our bid for the European giga factory, in a 50-50 partnership with the Spanish government, to have one of the first five giga factories in Portugal”, he said.
“We are creating the necessary and sufficient conditions to put all national infrastructure operators at the service of those who want to test new technologies and those who want to be early adopters,” he said, highlighting the importance of investment in submarine cables and data centres.
“We have more than 30 data centres in the pipeline and have created a major area of high energy demand. We are therefore directing and creating fast tracks for investment in this area”.
“We don’t only want to be a cluster of data centres, energy guzzlers that generate no positive effects for the economy, our businesses, or our academic and scientific community, so we are calling on investors” to invest in science and Portuguese companies, he concluded.
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