The farewell of the Cadete who became Anacom’s general

João Cadete de Matos, 64, completes six years as chair of Anacom on 15 August, which means his term is coming to an end. He has already admitted he would rather leave now, to return to the Banco de Portugal, but the law provides for him to stay in office indefinitely, until the minister responsible replaces him. João Galamba has not yet revealed whom he will appoint to the post, but wants a regulator “open to dialogue”, so that Anacom is a “source of stability”.

In 2017, when he became general of the communications regulator, Cadete de Matos acknowledged that he “was going into a war zone”. Looking back, he could not have been more right: waving the flag of consumer protection, he was in almost permanent confrontation with the telecoms operators from day one — a sector worth more than 1.4% of GDP.