Clix (ISP)

Optimus Clix

Type	Telecommunications
Founded	1999
Headquarters	Lisbon and Porto, Portugal
Services	Fixed Broadband Internet Digital Television (IPTV & cable)
Parent	ZON Optimus
Website	clix.pt

Optimus Clix was one of the triple play brands of Portuguese telecommunication operator ZON Optimus. Optimus Clix was a great competitor of the dominant operator (Portugal Telecom) in the residential market as Internet, telephone and TV service provider. In 2013, it merged with ZON and was renamed ZON Optimus. ZON is the main competitor of the dominant operator (Portugal Telecom).

In 1999, the Portuguese fixed-line telephone market was set to be deregulated, ending the monopoly of Portugal Telecom, which prompted Sonaecom, then mainly a mobile phone operator through its brand Optimus, to enter that market. Clix was launched on October 27 of that year as a residential Internet Service Provider (ISP), together with sister brand Novis (fixed-line telephone service and business ISP). Both brands were supported on the merger of Sonae Redes de Dados (IT consultancy and network management) with IP Global, an ISP which had been acquired earlier in the same year. The initial service offer of Clix consisted of Freeserve-type free Internet access, collecting a proportion of the standard telephone line charges, by analog modem or ISDN, and an advertising-supported web portal. The launch slogan was "fazer clix custa nix" (a wordplay on "to click/Clix costs nothing").

On 7 September 2002 Clix launched an ADSL Internet access service, as Clix Turbo. That service was withdrawn on 20 January 2004 under allegations of anti-competitive practices by Portugal Telecom, the simultaneous supplier of the service and a competitor on its own. Sonaecom then entered a strategy of building its own alternative network, to be fully independent from Portugal Telecom.

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