Mobile phones used by nine people in 10

More than 90 per cent of the population now use a mobile phone, according to figures published by the National Statistics Office yesterday.

In the second quarter of this year, the absolute number of mobile telephone subscriptions reached 374,507, or about 90.9 per cent of the population.

Contract-based mobile telephone subscriptions were recorded at 44,287 while card-plan subscriptions reached 330,220.

At the end of June, sub-scriptions to all forms of communication technology were up, the NSO said.

The fixed-telephone sub-scription index increased by 6.4 per cent from 108.6 in the second quarter of 2007 to 115.5 in second quarter this year.

Minutes used from fixed-line telephony in the second quarter amounted to about 131 million while international fixed-telephony traffic comprised 513,945 calls, equivalent to about 1.6 million minutes.

VOIP minutes were estimated at about 9.5 million. These cover all internet-based telephony systems. The internet sub-scription index rose by 18.2 per cent from 288.3 as at the end of June 2007 to 340.8 at the end of last June. The rate of internet subscriptions reached 26 per 100 persons of the population.

The cable and digital subscriptions index also increased by 0.2 per cent. Cable and digital television subscriptions were recorded at 30.3 per cent of the population.

Total postal traffic for the second quarter amounted to about 11 million items, of which the absolute bulk were letters and other printed items.

In the same reference period, courier traffic totalled 63,925 items, of which 51 per cent were letters or documents and the rest parcels.