Internet, television, fixed telephony and mobile subscriptions at the end of December registered increases when compared to the same month the previous year, the National Statistics Office said.

It said that in the last quarter of 2013, broadband internet subscriptions grew by 5.3 per cent, reaching 143,010.

High speed internet connections exceeding 10 Mbps advanced by 17.6 per cent, reaching 124,060. In contrast, internet subscriptions with speeds ranging from 2 to 10 Mbps decreased by 36.9 per cent.

Television subscriptions totalled 148,905, up by 0.7 per cent over 2012. Digital subscriptions continued to dominate the market with a majority of 95 per cent.

Analogue subscriptions stood at 7,495, down by 12 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter a year earlier.

The number of fixed telephone subscriptions as at the end of December reached 231,331 increasing by 0.7 per cent over the corresponding quarter in 2012.

Total fixed originating minutes to national networks declined by 6.5 per cent, while minutes towards international networks decreased by 12.9 per cent.

Mobile telephone subscriptions during the reference quarter totalled 580,961, up by 9.1 per cent when compared to the previous year. An increase of 8.7 per cent was recorded in the number of post-paid schemes, while pre-paid subscriptions rose by 9.3 per cent.

The mobile penetration rate for the quarter under review stood at 137.2 per cent. This showed that a considerable number of individuals had more than one mobile account. Increases were recorded in local originating mobile traffic, both towards fixed and mobile telephone networks, by 11.1 and 13.3 per cent, respectively.

Meanwhile the number of SMS’s sent while roaming dropped by 26.3 per cent.

Total postal traffic during the reference quarter decreased by 4.8 per cent and stood at over 10.6 million items.

Items received and dispatched by couriers totalled 180,319, an increase of 21.8 per cent over the previous year.