Internet subscriptions continued to advance as at the end of December, while television and fixed telephone subscriptions registered a marginal decline over 2013, the National Statistics Office said.

It said in a statement that in the last quarter of 2014, internet broadband subscriptions increased by six per cent reaching 151,557.

High speed internet connections exceeding 10 Mbps advanced by 14.4 per cent, reaching

141,864. In contrast, internet subscriptions with speed ranging from two to 10 Mbps decreased by 48.9 per cent.

The internet subscription index as at the end of the fourth quarter stood at 162.8, an increase of six per cent when compared to 2013 levels.

Television subscriptions totalled 147,880, a slight decrease of 0.7 per cent when compared to the previous year. Digital subscriptions continued to dominate the market, while analogue subscriptions dropped by 8.6 per cent when compared to 2013.

The number of fixed telephone subscriptions as at the end of December reached 230,361, down by 0.4 per cent over 2013.

Total fixed originating minutes to national networks dropped by 5.2 per cent, and minutes towards international networks decreased by 8.4 per cent.

With regard to local originating mobile traffic, increases were recorded towards fixed and mobile telephone networks by 7.6 and 8.9 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, the number of SMSs sent while roaming went down by 18.8 per cent when compared to the fourth quarter of 2013.

Total postal traffic during the reference quarter declined by six per cent and stood at over 10 million items.

Items received and dispatched by couriers totalled 210,594, an increase of 15.9 per cent over the previous year.