Cable takes largest slice of internet cake - MCA survey

Fifty-three per cent of households now have cable internet, according to a Malta Communications Authority survey of consumer perceptions of internet services.

ADSL is present in 41 per cent of homes and just 0.35 per cent of households have a Wimax connection. Three per cent of respondents said they used 3G mobile broadband.

The survey was carried out by Informa Ltd in June for the MCA using a net sample of 800 interviewees. The findings seem to suggest Maltese households, over 68 per cent of which have internet access, are hardly tech savvy.

Monthly broadband subscriptions are three times as popular as they were two years ago, but asked what their broadband download speed was, just under 60 per cent of interviewees said they did not know. At the time the survey was carried out (before Melita upgraded its minimum entry level speed from 2Mbs to 5Mbs and upgraded its 30Mbs to 50Mbs for the same price) one in five households were enjoying internet download speeds of 2 Mbs, six per cent 4Mbs, and a further six per cent 8Mbs. The higher download speeds (between 10Mbs and 30Mbs) were each present in just 1.28 per cent of households or fewer.

Almost 90 per cent of those who did not have internet access said there was either no computer in the house or no-one at home needed access to the Web.

Just less than half of household broadband subscriptions (46 per cent) are stand-alones. However, just under seven per cent had opted for quad-play bundles introduced on the local market over the past few months; 28 per cent of homes bundled internet with pay TV and fixed telephony; 13 per cent bundled internet with fixed telephony. Just under one per cent opted for internet, fixed telephony and mobile services from the same provider.

Of the 11.54 per cent who chose to switch their broadband connection in the last two years, 36 per cent switched from ADSL to cable, 24 per cent from cable to ADSL, and 19 per cent from dial-up to ADSL.

Forty-nine per cent of households would switch broadband connection if rates increased by five to 10 per cent, although one in five would remain loyal to their service provider, mostly (57 per cent) because they believed the rate change was 'minimal'. The other most common reasons for not switching were e-mail address retention and avoiding inconvenience.

An overwhelming 70 per cent would upgrade their connection if higher speeds were cheaper. Of the 71 per cent of people who were actually aware of what they were paying for their broadband internet connection, three in four thought it was reasonable - a significant increase in satisfaction levels from 29 per cent in 2005 and 40 per cent in 2007.

Just 22 per cent still thought the rates were expensive.

Service reliability was most subscribers' upmost priority as they went about selecting internet service provider. But just under half of interviewees still considered price to be a swaying factor. One in three believed speeds were crucial.

Eighty-eight per cent of households seem to be satisfied with their broadband connection. Just over half of unsatisfied customers complained download speeds were slower than advertised and a quarter said they suffered frequent disruptions in connection. Twenty per cent blamed poor customer care.

Four in ten respondents said they would be very interested in a high speed connection: significantly, many were prepared to pay €30 a month for speeds of 50 to 100MB.