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Higher internet speeds at home, more voice calls and internet use on mobile and a slowdown in digital pay TV growth are the highlights of the latest Communications Market Review published by the Malta Communications Authority for July to December 2012.
The electronic communications covered by the review are fixed line telephony and mobile telephony, fixed broadband (ADSL and cable) and mobile broadband internet, and pay TV services (cable, digital terrestrial TV and IPTV – TV over internet).
The mobile telephony and internet sectors maintained their positive performance in terms of take-up, with subscriber numbers at the end of 2012 significantly up over those recorded at the end of the previous year. Meanwhile, the fixed line telephony and pay TV sectors recorded a shrinking subscriber base, albeit marginally so.
3G mobile subscriptions went up from 49,706 in July 2011 to around 157,000 in July 2012
The second half of 2012 saw the mobile market register a further expansion in the subscriber base, with subscriptions reaching 539,452 by the end of year. This corresponds to a mobile penetration rate of 129.2 per cent, which is up 3.8 percentage points since the end of 2011. Vodafone has become the absolute market leader with just over 50 per cent and Melita increased its market share, both at the expense of Go which, however, remained the second largest mobile operator.
SMS activity in the second half of 2012 was stronger than in the corresponding period of the previous year. This increase is also attributable to more text messages sent from internet portals. Overall, using a mobile phone to call and send an SMS was cheaper at the end of 2012 than the previous year.
The MCA report attributes the decline for the fixed line sector to one of the larger operators pursuing a clean-up exercise of inactive prepaid users that have been on its books for a number of years. However fixed line postpaid subscriptions have increased by 1.6 per cent over a two-year period ending 2012.
Last year was again marked by ongoing fixed-to-mobile traffic substitution. The use of mobile voice call services shot up, with traffic volumes in terms of calls and minutes up by 11.6 per cent and 18 per cent respectively over those recorded for 2011. Meanwhile, fixed line traffic volumes were down, with the number of calls declining by 2.1 per cent and minutes by 2.6 per cent. The gap has narrowed significantly over the last three years.
In terms of fixed internet broadband, the number of subscriptions rose by 5.9 per cent over a 12-month period to reach 137,009 by the end of 2012. This figure corresponds to a fixed broadband penetration rate of 32.8 per cent, up from 31.1 per cent as at the end of 2011.
Go has lost its place as absolute market leader while Melita has increased its share.
The take-up of broadband has been marked by a shift towards higher broadband download speeds, over and above increasing subscriber numbers. This is because service providers launched new offers on the market and upgraded (very often free of charge) existing customers.
In the 12 months to July 2012, the number of active mobile broadband connections increased significantly. This is mainly a result of a surge in the number of active mobile connections via 3G mobile subscriptions, which went up from 49,706 in July 2011 to around 157,000 in July 2012. However, this remains considerably below the EU average.
As at the end of 2012, the number of digital Pay TV subscriptions totalled 135,544. This figure is made up of 73,252 digital cable subscriptions, and 62,292 digital terrestrial TV subscriptions. The number of pay TV subscriptions is down while there are some 3800 IPTV (TV over internet) subscriptions. No reason is given for this situation, though live TV and video on demand over internet could be seen as a potential factor.
There was also a slight increase in the rates paid by subscribers to watch TV.
The authority’s report also makes an interesting observation on bundled offers. Irrespective of the contrasting developments in take-up, the proportion of subscriptions on a bundled offer went up further, for all electronic communications services.
As at the end of 2012, the most popular type of bundle was quad play (fixed-line, mobile, TV and internet services) taken up by 47.2 per cent of those opting for a bundle. Dual play and triple play accounted for 41.4 per cent and 11.4 per cent of those opting for a bundle respectively.
The report also takes a look at postal services. Take-up of postal services persisted in its long-term decline, with postal mail volumes slowing for the third consecutive year since 2009.
The entire report is available at www.mca.org.mt.