Telecoms industry contributes €130.8m to GDP

The telecoms industry’s contribution to the GDP fell by €4.4 million to €130.8 million last year, according to the 2010 annual report of the Malta Communications Authority.

It said market players reported a 9.7 per cent decline in their operating surplus, down to €42.4 million from €47 million. Postal services were also down last year, with the contribution to the country’s GDP shrinking by a minimal 0.02 per cent.

Calls originating from fixed lines declined by 3.5 per cent, from 219.3 million in 2009 to 211.6 million in 2010. The MCA said this decline was mainly attributed to significantly less fixed-to-fixed calls, which decreased by 6.9 million and less fixed-to-international calls, which fell by 0.3 million.

These declines outweighed increases in terms of internet calls, which increased by 1.6 million.

In terms of voice call minutes, fixed line originating traffic declined to 721.8 million in 2010 from 736.1 million in 2009. National fixed line traffic declined by 9.3 million voice call minutes, while international fixed line traffic declined by 4.7 million voice call minutes.

The MCA said notable declines were also reported in terms of fixed-to-mobile traffic, which decreased by nearly two million voice call minutes.

On the other hand, mobile telephony recorded significant growth in terms of traffic volumes. In absolute terms, the number of outgoing mobile calls increased from 250.3 million in 2009 to 279.4 million in 2010. This growth is accounted for by increases in terms of mobile-to-mobile calls, which increased by nearly 27 million, an increase of 2.1 million mobile-to-fixed calls and an increase of 300,000 mobile-to-international calls.

Significant growth was also recorded in outgoing mobile voice call minutes, with traffic volumes increasing by 24.3 per cent, representing an overall increase of nearly 75 million outgoing voice call minutes.

The number of outgoing SMSs in 2010 exceeded that recorded in 2009 by 70.6 million, despite a decline of 3.6 million SMSs sent through an internet portal and a decline of 200,000 SMSs sent to foreign mobile networks.

In terms of mobile subscriptions, the MCA reports that Vodafone Malta recorded the largest market share at 47.7 per cent, down from 49.6 per cent in 2009. Go’s share stood at 42.1 per cent, down from 43.2 per cent in 2009, while that for Melita Mobile stood at eight per cent.

On the other hand, gains were recorded by Melita, up by 2.4 per cent, and Redtouch Fone, up by 0.4 per cent. Ping managed to obtain a 0.2 per cent market share by the end of 2010, its first year of operations.

The number of internet subscriptions as at the end of 2010 amounted to 119,422, an increase of 7,879 over a 12 month period. There are still 50 consumers who still have a dial-up internet subscription, although this number decreased from 694 as at the end of 2009.

As at the end of 2010, Go reported 62,934 fixed broadband subscriptions, up from 49,395 as at the end of 2009. This means that Go had a 52.7 per cent market share. Melita followed with 51,319 fixed broadband subscriptions, corresponding to a 42.9 per cent market share.

Vodafone accounted for a further 4,117 subscriptions, or 3.4 per cent market share, while Vanilla Telecoms and SKY Telecom together reported 542 subscriptions, which translate into a market share of 0.2 and 0.3 per cent respectively.

According to this report, Malta’s performance in the various telecoms sectors compared well with the EU27 average. Malta’s standing on fixed broadband penetration stood at 28.5 per cent, surpassing the EU27 average which stood at 25.6 per cent. Malta ranked 10th among the EU27.

The number of analogue Pay TV subscriptions declined from 29,100 as at the end of 2009 to 13,391 as at the end of 2010, accounting for only nine per cent of the total Pay TV base. This decline was offset by a significant margin as digital Pay TV subscriptions which increased by 20,576 to reach 130,812 as at the end of 2010.