Malta has again ranked first from among the 28 EU states in the latest digital agenda scoreboard in next generation broadband network coverage.

Malta also climbed two places, ranking ninth overall, from 11th in 2013, in the connectivity segment of this report, which assesses the deployment of broadband infrastructure and its quality.

The scoreboard, which is published by the European Commission on an annual basis, measures the progress of the European Digital Economy in the previous calendar year.

Malta’s success in these areas is further pronounced when comparing Malta’s performance against the EU average.

While network coverage for both fixed broadband and next generation access networks stands at 100% in Malta in both cases, the EU average stands at 97 per cent for fixed broadband and 68 per cent for NGA network roll-out.

Most notable, however, is the significant progress Malta made in terms of subscriptions to high-speed broadband services.

In one year, the number of Maltese households subscribed to broadband speeds of 30 Mbps or more increased by 41 percentage points to reach 55 per cent in 2014, up from 14 per cent in 2013.

The figure reported in 2012 was a two per cent.