Mobile usage has increased while fixed telephony usage has gone down. These were among the findings published in the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) ninth Electronic Communications Market Review report for the six months ending 30 September.
As per the previous Electronic Communications Market Review, the most highly-used form of communication is still the fixed network, although usage has continued its downward course during the period under review, with a decrease in registered on-net minutes of 27.3 million (9.6%) over the comparable last year period.
In total, PSTN-originating traffic fell by 28 million minutes (9.1%) relative to that registered in quarters 2 and 3 of 2005. During the same period, the subscriber base had fallen by 1.3% in relation to the same 6 months of the previous year. In quarter 3 of 2006, 17.6% of subscribers were business subscribers, with the remaining 82.4% being residential.
As at the end of the period under review, the growth rate in the mobile telephony subscribers and minutes has continued to increase. The mobile subscriptions base in fact grew by 6.1% or 19,872 over the comparable period of 2005, bringing the local mobile penetration rate to 86%. At the end of the period covered by this review 29,585 subscribers (9%) were on postpaid plans whereas the remaining 315,901 (91%) were on prepaid plans. Meanwhile, during the 6 months covered by this review, mobile-to-mobile traffic rose by 18.2 million (26.91%) relative to the same quarters in 2005.
The downward trend in mobile-originating traffic terminating on PSTN seems to have stabilised, whereas mobile-originating traffic passing through the international gateways exhibited a pronounced upward trend. During the current review period, registered ARPU went up by LM0.39 from LM9.64 in last year’s comparable period to LM10.02. As at the end of the review period it stood at LM10.21. Mobile-originating voice traffic grew by 23.3% over the comparable period last year. In quarter 3 of 2006, voice traffic stood at an all-time high 49.6 million minutes.
During the current review period, SMS traffic had grown by 14 million units (4.7%) over the comparable period last year. This may be attributed to the promotional offers and the price differential between text and voice prices in Malta. In comparison with other EU countries, only Danish, Polish and Czech SMS prices are lower, with only the former being significantly so.
MMS traffic fell by 96,989 units over the previous reporting period. This confirms that MMS has taken off only limitedly.
The total number of digital and analogue TV subscribers at the end of September 2006 stood at 108,204, translating into a yearly increase of 8,633 subscribers and spelling a subscription-rate-to-household ratio of 84.5%.
As at the end of the review period, Internet subscriptions amounted to 94,748, up by 6,553 from September 2005. This implies a ratio of subscriptions per 100 inhabitants of 23.5. Of these 56.8% were broadband subscribers, with the remaining 43.2% being narrowband subscribers.
Following the introduction of the 128 kbps bandwidth “always-on” Internet plan, dialup minutes fell by 45.4% of total dial-up minutes over the span of a year.
Meanwhile, other 2006 events in the field of information technology can be reviewed here.
Source: Malta Communications Authority
© Copyright 2006 - MaltaMedia Online Network
Top of Page
|
