A maturing communications sector

The latest figures for the Maltese communication industry confirm the maturity of the mobile market, the death of slow (dial-up) internet and the rise of digital TV.

These key market indicators released by the Malta Communications Authority give an overview of the raw figures for fixed-line telephony, mobile communication, TV, internet and postal services between 2005 and 2010.

The total number of mobile subscriptions at the end of 2010 was 455,414, of which 366,169 were pre-paid and 89,245 were postpaid. This is an increase of over 30,000 subscriptions of both types over the end of 2009, bringing penetration to 110 per cent, which means there are more mobile subscriptions than people living in the country.

However, a fluctuation in the type of subscription could be noted, as there was a decrease in the pre-paid and an increase in the postpaid which was higher than the fourth quarter of previous years. This could be attributed to the fact that more mobile users are switching to post-paid plans for their smartphones that include data bundles.

As reported by i-Tech in recent months, the use of smartphones in Malta, especially the Apple iPhone and Android-based models has increased. However, the figures do not show if this surge has happened at the expense of traditional voice calls and SMS sine these two were significantly up from 2009 to 2010. Internet on mobile devices is not killing voice and SMS as yet.

Other visible mobile-related trends include an increase in roaming abroad from 2009 to 2010. The number of portings, or the switching of mobile provider while retaining the same number, was stable last year and less than 2009, when a new national mobile operator (Melita) was launched and attracted users from the two established operators.

Contrary to expectations, fixed-line telephony did not suffer at the hands of the relentless rise of mobile telephony in the last few years. Indeed in Q4 2010 there were 247,345 active fixed-line subscriptions, most of them post-paid. The number of subscrip­tions was stable between 2009 and 2010 after increasing in previous years. The number of voice calls and traffic minutes were also pretty stable in the last five years and were not cannibalised by the rise in mobile phone usage.

At the end of 2010 there were 119,429 active internet subsc­riptions, a sustained increase over the previous quarters and the previous years, bringing the penetration rate for fixed broadband to 29 per cent. Only 50 slow speed dial-up connections survive. ADSL usage continued to grow in 2010 after it surpassed cable access in terms of absolute figures in Q1 2010. Indeed 2010 saw cable internet subscriptions decreasing in number throughout the year. The use of wireless broadband internet access, also known as WiMax, continued to increase albeit at a very small pace last year.

Analogue pay-TV subscriptions continued to grow both in absolute numbers and at the expense of analogue ones. At the end of 2010 there were 143,753 subscriptions in all, and nearly 131,000 of them were digital. The number of analogue cable TV subscriptions decreased by half during last year. In terms of choice between cable TV and digital terrestrial TV (DTTV), it seems 2010 was a very good year for DTTV offered by Go while Melita’s cable TV saw a slight increase, with Go having a little over 60,000 subscribers and Melita around 70,000 (digital only, not counting analogue cable TV subscribers).

The figures for 2010 are not final, and the MCA said they could still be revised. They are just an overview and do not provide detailed market shares for the single operators. But in certain cases where this is only one service provider such as in cable TV, DTTV, and cable internet, or there is one very big player and very small almost insignificant smaller players like in ADSL internet access, the figures do give a hint on how different companies are faring.

If confirmed, these figures reveal a strong showing by Go on the digital TV and broadband internet access front, while Melita did not experience the same strong growth. In the case of broadband internet access it actually lost market share to Go’s ADSL. However, Melita is so far the only provider of local commercial high-definition TV access. It launched last year but the MCA’s statistics did not go into such detail.

As far as postal services are concerned, across the years there is a significant decrease in the number of letters mailed, proof that people are turning to electronic means to keep in touch. The number of letter post items went down from 11,984,418 in Q4 2005 to 5,384,618 in Q4 2010. The number of bulk items remained stable in the last few years.