Jan 18 2004

As at 30 September 2003, mobile operators in Malta boasted 280,847 users on their networks.

This amount includes both pre-paid and post-paid subscriptions. The number of subscribers increased by 2.07 per cent during the third quarter of 2003.

The number of mobile subscribers since 1998 reached 280,847 subscribers in at the end of September 2003. It also shows the number of Maltese mobile subscribers per 100 population compared with the EU average. While at the end of September the former reached 70.4 per cent, the later stood at 80.9 per cent. It can clearly be noticed that the growth rate of Maltese mobile penetration is very similar to that of the EU average.

During the third quarter of 2003, a sharp increase occurred in the number of SMSs, which reached almost 94 million during this period. During the same quarter, mobile ARPU was the highest from the period under review which increased by Lm1.45 over the same period last year.
 

At the end of September 2003, fixed line telephony subscribers amounted to 205,582 while mobile subscriptions increased to 280,847.

In terms of penetration, these stood at 51.5 and 70.4 per 100 inhabitants respectively.

During the third quarter of 2003, ISDN subscriptions increased by 4.12 per cent over the previous quarter.

Cable TV subscribers amounted to 118,290, representing a 3.4 per cent increase when compared to the second quarter of the year 2003.

Internet subscriptions reached 72,962 at the end of September 2003 of which 19,892 (27.3 per cent) were broadband subscriptions.



Fixed line subscriptions

The total number of PSTN lines at the end of the last quarter stood at 205,582 lines (that is, 51.5 per cent penetration) of which 80.4 per cent are residential subscribers. An overall increase of 0.16 per cent over the previous quarter is the result of an increase of 0.8 per cent in residential along with a decline in business subscribers of 2.4 per cent



ISDN subscriptions

ISDN take-up shows a steady increase in the total ISDN subscriptions throughout the period. While an increase of 4.12 per cent occurred during the third quarter over the second quarter of 2003, an increase of 33.02 per cent took place when compared to the same quarter of last year.



Cable television subscribers

At the end of September 2003, cable television subscribers totalled 118,290. A 5.2 per cent and 3.4 per cent increase occurred in comparison to the same quarter of 2002 and the second quarter of 2003 respectively. The proportion of Basic service subscribers to the total subscribers is 84 per cent while that for the Premium Services stands at 16 per cent.



Cable television ARPU

The cable television average monthly ARPU in the following chart shows the data for Basic and Premium television services only, that is, it excludes any revenue related to broadband services. During the period under review the ARPU declined from Lm5.51 during the third quarter of 2003 to a minimum of Lm5.16 in the first quarter of 2003, to pick up again and reach Lm5.38 during the third quarter of 2003. This means a decline of 2.36 per cent from the same quarter of last year.



Internet subscriptions

Data published by the National Office of Statistics on 17 November 2003, indicates that the number of internet subscriptions went up to 72,962, that is, 18.2 per cent over the same period last year. This increase amounted to 18.3 per cent Internet penetration. Dial-up Internet traffic After the increase in dial-up Internet traffic in 2002 and beginning 2003, this type of traffic experienced a steady decline of 18.13 per cent since the first quarter of the year. Two factors contributing to this drop could be possible seasonality of usage and substitution with broadband connections.

Broadband penetration ADSL subscription at the end of September 2003 amounted to 11,883. On the other hand, cable modem subscriptions totalled 8,009. Thus, the total broadband subscriptions stand at 19,892, which is equivalent to 4.99 per cent of the population.



Broadband access lines by technology

In Malta ADSL amounts to 60 per cent of the broadband market while the remaining 40 per cent is covered by the cable technology.

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