With a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Lisbon’s Faculty of Science and a Master’s in Sales and Marketing Management from the Team View Institute, Alexandre Fonseca has been the CEO of one of Portugal’s largest companies since 2017: Altice. His CV, which already boasts over 20 years of professional experience, reveals that he had a stint at IBM, was part of the founding of Cabovisão, and led Oni in Portugal and in Mozambique, in 2013, among other positions. Currently, he is also chief executive of ALTICE LABS – based in Portugal – a Research and Development unit for the Altice Group worldwide. In addition to this, Alexandre is a regular speaker on telecommunications, technology and management at various national and international conferences.
If you could choose which would be the moments that have most marked the country and the world in the last 20 years?
There are six moments that I would choose, due to their global dimension, in the country and in the telecommunications sector:
2001: the terrorist attacks of September 11. Because they caused the death of around three thousand people, changed the world and made us reflect on security and the way we live as a community.
2002: Portugal and the other member states of the European Union adopt the single currency, the Euro.
2007: the first generation of the iPhone. Although not the first smartphone, it revolutionised the mobile phone market and was responsible for a major technological transformation.
2011: the launch of the Troika programme. For the scale of the economic crisis that hit Portugal.
2017: Altice reveals its new identity and brand strategy. A moment that marks the beginning of a new era in the telecommunications sector.
2020: the inevitable reference to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, which placed the world in lockdown and struggling with a global health crisis.
Professionally, what has been the most decisive moment for you in these two decades?
My appointment as CEO of Altice Portugal, in November 2017.
What do you think would be the big change that the country and the world would need to make in the next 20 years?
I would say that the big change would be the adoption of converging intercontinental policies that contribute to equal opportunities, namely, in digital access. This change would bring enormous positive consequences for the sustainability of the globe and greater capacity to monetise the means in access to health care, education and culture.
If you could choose which would be the moments that have most marked the country and the world in the last 20 years?
There are six moments that I would choose, due to their global dimension, in the country and in the telecommunications sector:
2001: the terrorist attacks of September 11. Because they caused the death of around three thousand people, changed the world and made us reflect on security and the way we live as a community.
2002: Portugal and the other member states of the European Union adopt the single currency, the Euro.
2007: the first generation of the iPhone. Although not the first smartphone, it revolutionised the mobile phone market and was responsible for a major technological transformation.
2011: the launch of the Troika programme. For the scale of the economic crisis that hit Portugal.
2017: Altice reveals its new identity and brand strategy. A moment that marks the beginning of a new era in the telecommunications sector.
2020: the inevitable reference to the pandemic caused by COVID-19, which placed the world in lockdown and struggling with a global health crisis.
Professionally, what has been the most decisive moment for you in these two decades?
My appointment as CEO of Altice Portugal, in November 2017.
What do you think would be the big change that the country and the world would need to make in the next 20 years?
I would say that the big change would be the adoption of converging intercontinental policies that contribute to equal opportunities, namely, in digital access. This change would bring enormous positive consequences for the sustainability of the globe and greater capacity to monetise the means in access to health care, education and culture.
