The cable and digital subscription index rose by 0.08 per cent from 128.0 in March 2006 to 128.1 in April 2006, the National Statistics Office said yesterday.

Cable and digital television subscriptions were recorded at 26.9 per 100 persons as at end of April 2006.

In absolute terms, the total of cable and digital subscriptions totalled 108,638. An increase of 0.07 per cent was recorded over the previous month. In the month under review analogue subscriptions decreased by 1.6 per cent while digital subscriptions increased by 4.9 per cent.

Internet subscriptions

The internet subscription index rose by 0.04 per cent from 284.9 as at end March 2006 to 285.0 as at end April 2006. The rate of internet subscriptions per 100 persons reached 22.2. Narrowband and broadband subscriptions were respectively recorded at 47,055 and 42,622.

Telephone communication

In the month under review, a decrease of 0.02 per cent was recorded in the mobile subscription index. The number of mobile telephone subscriptions reached 325,229 in absolute terms; this translates into 80.4 per cent of the population. Contract-based mobile telephone subscriptions were recorded at 27,902, while card-plan subscriptions reached 297,327.

Around 13.9 million minutes were consumed in mobile telephone networks, while those directed from mobile to fixed-line networks amounted to around two million.

In April 2006 the mobile communication traffic included around 32.4 million SMSs; 55,521 MMSs; and 13,726 WAPs.

As at end April 2006 the fixed telephone subscription index remained unchanged from the previous month – 104.1 per cent. Minutes consumed in fixed-line telephony on local calls amounted to around 53.6 million, with some 37.6 million minutes from residential subscriptions and the rest from business premises subscriptions. The international fixed-telephony traffic comprised 217,240 calls, equivalent to around 0.7 million minutes.

In the month under review VOIP minutes were estimated at around 0.7 million. At 91.3 the pager subscription index remained the same as in March 2006.