120 million text messages in three months

More than 120 million text messages were sent between last October and December, according to figures released by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The figures show that the number of mobile phone subscriptions have more than doubled since 2001.

There were 91 subscriptions for every 100 people at the end of last year, up from 40.7 per cent in December 2001 and 11.2 per cent more than at the end of 2006.

The majority of the 371,178 mobile subscriptions are on a card plan, with only around 10 per cent being contract subscriptions.

The number of fixed telephone subscriptions also went up by just over eight per cent in the last quarter of last year when compared to the same period in 2006. Around 194.6 million minutes of calls were made to local fixed lines in the last quarter - some 50 million more than in the previous year.

The number of internet subscriptions rose by 5.2 per cent between December 2006 and the end of last year.

While Malta saw an increase in broadband subscriptions - by 57.4 per cent - there was a 27.7 per cent drop in narrowband internet subscriptions.

The number of digital television subscriptions have also seen a 62 per cent increase over last year, while cable analogue subscriptions dropped by almost 14 per cent.

The figures show a two per cent increase in postal traffic in the final quarter of last year.