Updated: Mobile phone rates in Malta among Europe's highest - EU report

The European Commission said today that mobile phone prices in Malta are four times higher than in the cheapest country.

The Malta Communications Authority, in a statement, however, said that prices had gone down since 2008, which was the year on which the report was based.

"Major price differences still exist between Member States both at retail and wholesale level. Retail mobile prices in the most expensive Member States are four times higher than in the cheapest, e.g. €0.04 cents per minute in Latvia compared with €0.24 in Malta," the Commission said in a report.

This situation is partly due to different regulatory approaches across the EU.

"Consumers and business still face 27 fragmented national markets. National telecoms regulators often delay, sometimes by years, the enforcement of EU rules. For example, in wholesale broadband markets, some national regulators control the fibre networks of the incumbent operators, while others limit regulation to the old copper-based technology. Regulation of wholesale broadband markets shapes the competitive landscape and so determines the price and quality of broadband products available to consumers and businesses," the Commission said.

The report provides an overview of the European market in general and comments on developments in each member state. With respect to Malta, the report highlights growth in the total turnover of the sector reaching 261 million in 2008, a 6% increase over 2007. In addition, market players invested €41 million in 2008.

‘It is heartening to see continued growth and investment in this sector despite the challenging economic environment,’ said the Chairman of the Malta Communications Authority (MCA), Ing Philip Micallef.

The report points out that all telecoms sectors - fixed and mobile telephony, broadband and TV - reported growth during 2009. According to the EU Commission, ‘broadband penetration continued to grow by 2.9% points from January 2009 to January 2010 to reach 26.8% in January 2010, above the EU average of 24.8%. In addition, Maltese consumers were also benefitting from further improvements in the price-speed ratio, with the vast majority (97.5%) of subscribers enjoying speeds of 2Mbps or higher.’

Furthermore, with respect to mobile telephony, the report states that ‘penetration continued to grow, reaching 101.0% in July 2009 compared to 94.5% in July 2008.’

Quoting MCA’s statistics, the Commission noted that ‘mobile telephony registered considerable gains in traffic volume. The number of outgoing mobile voice calls reached 121.6 million up to June 2009. On average, the number of outgoing calls in the first quarter 2009 reached 157.4 per active mobile subscription, representing a 4.7% increase compared to the previous quarter. National outgoing mobile voice call minutes in the first half of 2009 increased by 21% compared to the same period in 2008.’

On the report's reference to Malta mobile phone prices, the MCA pointed out that a 3rd network operator entered the market in early 2009. According to its calculations, the average price per minute decreased from €0.24 in 2008 to around €0.17 in 2009.

On fixed telephony, the report states that ‘outgoing fixed voice minutes increased to 365.2 million in the first 6 months of 2009 corresponding to a 13.2% increase compared to the same period in 2008. The number of fixed line subscribers increased by 1.6% from the end of 2008 to a total of approximately 245,000 in the end of June 2009.’

On the take up of pay TV the report notes that ‘during the first half of 2009 (pay TV subscriptions) continued to grow. At the end of the second quarter 2009, pay TV subscriptions reached 137,377, up by 10.2% over a 12 month period. As at the end of second quarter 2009, digital pay TV subscriptions amounted to 94,431.’

The full report provides further information on the Maltese and European market and a link can be found on the MCA website www.mca.org.mt