SMS messages exceeded 142.7 million in Q2

Outgoing SMS traffic in the second quarter of this year rose by 4.7 million for a total of 142.79 million, figures issued by the National Statistics Office show. There was also a steep increase in the number of phone calls from mobile phones to fixed lines.

MMS traffic picked up too, with 54,575 messages recorded during the quarter, from 33,764 in the second quarter of 2010.

In its statement, the NSO said that increases in broadband and mobile telephony subscriptions continued at a fast pace in the second quarter of this year, while fixed line telephony saw a further drop in subscriptions and usage.

As in the first quarter, there were no active narrowband (dial-up) internet subscriptions, thus confirming the phasing out of this type of internet connection.

Broadband subscriptions increased by 7.7 per cent to 126,572. The majority of broadband subscribers had a connection speed of at least 2 Mbps.

Subscriptions to digital TV advanced by 9.1 per cent.

The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions during the second quarter
totalled 242,276, resulting in a drop of 1.6 per cent over 2010. Total fixed originating minutes to national and international networks dropped by 14.8 and 7.2 per cent respectively.

Mobile telephone subscriptions stood at 491,344, up by 11.8 per cent when compared to the previous year. Increases were recorded in both post-paid and pre-paid schemes. The mobile penetration rate per 100 persons in the population amounted to 117.3 per cent, implying that a considerable number of individuals have more than one mobile phone account.

A steep increase was recorded in local outgoing mobile phone calls to fixed lines, at 14.2 million minutes, compares to 8.3 million minutes in the second quarter of last year. Mobile to mobile traffic rose to 92.2 million minutes from 78.9 million minutes in the comparable period last year.

Phone calls from mobile phones to overseas networks crew by just over 50% to reach  1.06 million minutes.

Drops were registered in inbound roaming activities, while outbound roaming activities increased.

POSTAL TRAFFIC

Total postal traffic for the period under review amounted to around 10.9 million items, a decrease of 15.2 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter in 2010. Total parcels and other items were recorded at 15,588, a decrease of 39.3 per cent over quarter two of 2010.
Items received and dispatched by couriers totalled 149,943 - up by 45.2 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter last year.