The number of mobile telephone subscriptions as at the end of September reached 381,955, the National Statistics Office said.

It said that contract-based mobile telephone subscriptions were recorded at 48,507, while card-plan subscriptions reached 333,448.

The fixed-telephone subscription index increased by 4.4 percent from 112.4 in the third quarter of 2007 to 117.3 in the comparable quarter this year.

Fixed-line telephony minutes amounted to around 124 million, while international fixed-telephony traffic comprised 457,813 calls, equivalent to around 1.5 million minutes. VOIP minutes were estimated at around 10.2 million, including all internet based telephony systems.

The NSO said that the internet subscription index rose by eight per cent from 318.2 as at the end of September to 343.5 as at the end of the equivalent quarter in 2008.

The rate of internet subscriptions per 100 persons of the population reached 26.2. Whilst, the number of narrow band subscriptions decreased by 31.9 percent over the previous year same quarter, the number of broad band users increased by 37.2 percent when compared to the third quarter of 2007.

The cable and digital subscriptions index also increased by eight per cent. Cable and digital television subscriptions were recorded at 30.9 pe cent of the population as at the end of September.

Total postal traffic for the third quarter amounted to around 10.8 million items, of which the absolute bulk represented letters and other printed items. In the same period, courier traffic totalled 64,891 items, of which 51.2 percent were letters or documents, and the rest parcels.