Updated: 500 million SMSs sent in Malta last year

(Adds Communications Minister Austin Gatt's comments on privatation's benefits for the economy)

A staggering 500 million SMS messages were sent last year, an increase of 55.3 million over the year before, the annual report of the Malta Communications Authority, issued today, shows

The report says one of the contributing factors for this increase was growth of 7 percent in mobile phone subscriptions since the previous year, reaching a local penetration rate of 92 per cent, which, while high, is till lower than the EU average.

Another factor was the price difference between SMS and voice messages and the number of SMS promotional offers. The report also revealed a decrease in MMS usage – of 124,725 units – and an increase in roaming mobile minutes.

According to the report the telecommunications sector had a turnover of €263.9 million last year and the market continued to show a healthy growth in all its sub-sectors including internet subscriptions and use of e-commerce facilities.

Fixed line telephony remained the most highly used form of communication despite the ongoing reduction in volume as subscriptions increased while the originating minutes dropped.

Communications Minister Austin Gatt, who was present for the launching of the report, commended the authority for its work over the past years and its work in support of the liberalization process.

“The authority has been able to strike the right balance between ensuring the health and sustainability of the sector whilst securing the best outcomes for consumers,” he said.

This industry demonstrated the value of privatization and liberalization and the contribution such policies made to the economy. These, he said, were the tools the government can and should use to ensure consumers benefit both financially and in terms of the quality of the service they are provided with.

"The government will pursue every opportunity to make Malta’s economy more competitive and provide greater choice to Maltese consumers by knocking down any remaining internal barriers to competition. The benefits consumers enjoy from improved telecoms service are the best case for the wisdom of this approach," he said