The number of mobile telephone subscriptions at the end of September exceeded the size of the population, the NSO said today.

It said that subscriptions to all forms of communication technology increased when compared to the corresponding period in 2008.

The absolute number of mobile telephone subscriptions totalled 418,341. Subscriptions to post-paid schemes were recorded at 59,867, while pre-paid scheme subscriptions stood at 358,474.

"Therefore, as at the end of September the mobile penetration rate per 100 persons in the population exceeded 100 per cent," the NSO said.

"This indicates that there are a significant number of persons with more than one subscription. This phenomenon is also registered in most EU countries. Both the local originating mobile traffic and outbound roaming experienced an increase compared to the corresponding period in 2008."

On the other hand, a decrease was registered in inbound roaming and traffic.

The fixed-telephone subscription index increased by 4.4 per cent from 113.6 in 2008 (quarter 3) to 118.6 in 2009.

Total fixed originating minutes to the national network amounted to around 164 million minutes, with an increase of 9.6 per cent over the comparative quarter in 2008.

The fixed telephony to the international network time totalled 14 million minutes.

The internet subscription index rose by 10.4 per cent from 135.9 in quarter 3 last year to 150.1 in 2009. 26 per cent of the population had an internet subscription.

Whilst, the number of active narrowband (dial-up) subscriptions decreased by 65.5 per cent, the number of broadband users increased by 12.5 per cent when comparing corresponding quarters.

As at the end of September 2009, just over 95 per cent of broadband subscribers had a connection speed of more than or equal to 2Mbps.

The analogue and digital TV subscriptions index advanced by 9.0 per cent, and reached a penetration rate of 96.8 per cent of households as at the end of September.

Digital subscriptions amounted to 75.3 per cent of the overall subscriptions.

Total postal traffic for the third quarter of 2009 amounted to around 10.4 million items a drop of 3.7 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2008