Outgoing SMS traffic in Malta dropped by 4.75 million messages in the first quarter of this year, but still reached a staggering 121.48 million messages, figures issued by the NSO today show.
Outgoing MMS traffic was also down, reaching 34,918, a drop of 8,163 over the January-March period of 2010.
There was, however, a sharp rise in locally originated mobile phone calls to fixed lines, with 13,555,578 minutes having been recorded, an increase of 99.6%.
Local outgoing minutes to mobile phones rose by 18.4% to 91.3 million minutes.
Mobile phone calls to international networks was up by 27.5% to 2.30 million minutes.
Subscriptions to all forms of communication technology, excluding fixed telephony, have continued to grow when compared to the corresponding period last year, the NSO said today.
Giving figures up to the end of March, the Office said that internet subscription grew by 8.4 per cent over
2011.
During this period, there were no active narrowband (dial-up) internet subscriptions recorded. Broadband subscriptions increased by 8.8 per cent to stand at 123,860. The majority of broadband subscribers had a connection speed of at least 2 Mbps.
The television subscription index went up by 2.5 per cent when compared to 2010 levels. A drop of 51.5
per cent was registered in analogue subscriptions, while digital subscriptions advanced by 13.6 per
cent. Digital subscriptions accounted for 91.9 per cent of total television subscriptions.
TELEPHONY
The number of fixed-telephone subscriptions during the quarter totalled 245,296, a decline of 0.3 per
cent. Total fixed originating minutes to national and international networks dropped by 6.2 and 3.7 per
cent respectively. As a result, the fixed telephone subscription index dropped by 0.3 per cent over last
year.
At the end of the first quarter of 2011, mobile telephone subscriptions stood at 463,861, up by 6.8 per
cent when compared to the previous year. Increases were recorded in both post-paid and pre-paid
schemes. The mobile phones penetration rate per 100 persons in the population reached 111.1 per cent,
implying that some individuals have more than one mobile account.
When compared to the corresponding period in 2010, increases were recorded in local originating
mobile traffic, with the exception of outgoing SMS and MMS traffic. Outbound and inbound roaming
activities both registered increases.
MAIL AND COURIER SERVICES
Total postal traffic for thE period under review amounted to around 10.8 million items, a marginal increase when compared to The corresponding quarter in 2010. Total parcels and other items were recorded at 15,833, a drop of 27.7 per cent over quarter one of 2010.
Items received and dispatched by couriers totalled 121,786 - up by 18.5 per cent when compared to the
corresponding quarter in 2010.