As at the end of March, subscriptions to all forms of communication technology increased when compared to the corresponding period in 2009, the NSO said today.
The internet subscription index rose by 12.6 per cent from 137.6 in Quarter 1 of 2009 to 155.0 as at the end of the comparative quarter this year. While the number of active narrowband (dialup) subscriptions dropped by 73.5 per cent over the previous year, the number of broadband users increased by 11.7 per cent. As at the end of the first quarter, 89.0 per cent of broadband subscribers had a connection speed of more than or equal to 2 Mbps, but less than 10 Mbps.
The Pay TV subscription index increased by 3.7 per cent. Analogue television subscriptions registered a drop of 47.1 per cent while digital subscriptions advanced by 29.2 per cent to 116,572. Digital subscriptions comprised 82.9 per cent of the overall subscriptions.
In the first quarter of 2010, the absolute number of mobile telephone subscriptions totalled 434,161. Subscriptions to post-paid schemes were recorded at 82,392, while pre-paid scheme subscriptions stood at 351,769. Based on the total population figure as at the end of 2009, the mobile penetration rate per 100 persons in the population stood at 104.2.
This indicates that a person may have more than one mobile subscription, a phenomenon which is also found in most EU Member States, the NSo said.
Both local originating mobile traffic and outbound roaming experienced an increase compared to the corresponding period in 2009. On the other hand, a decrease was registered in inbound incoming visitors' minutes.
The fixed-telephone subscription index increased by 0.1 per cent to 118.3 in the comparable quarter in 2009. Total fixed originating minutes to national network amounted to 167.7 million minutes, a decrease of 0.3 per cent with respect to 2009. Around 13.5 million minutes were consumed towards an international network.
Total postal traffic for the first quarter of 2010 amounted to 10.8 million items, an increase of 3.6 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter last year. Total parcels and other items were recorded at 21,910, an increase of 27.3 per cent when compared to 2009. Items received and dispatched by Couriers amounted to 102,781 - an increase of 52.0 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter last year.