Internet subscriptions up eight per cent

The number of internet subscriptions has risen eight per cent in a year to reach 26.2 per 100 people.

Giving statistics for the third quarter, the National Statistics Office said that compared to the same period last year, the number of broadband users has increased by 37.2 per cent while narrowband connections have gone down by 31.9 per cent.

Between July and September, subscriptions increased in all forms of communication.

Mobile phone subscriptions reached 381,955, of which 48,507 were contract-based and 333,448 card-plan-based. Cable and digital subscriptions also rose by eight per cent, standing at 30.9 per cent of the population.

Some 124 million minutes were taken up during local calls while 1.5 million minutes were taken up during international ones from a land-line. The number of VOIP minutes was estimated at around 10.2 million.

Postal traffic amounted to around 10.8 million items, of which the majority were letters and other printed material.

In the same period, courier traffic totalled 64,891 items, of which 51.2 per cent were mainly letters and the rest parcels.