The number of mobile telephony subscriptions totalled 562,978 by the end of June 2015, up by 2.7 per cent when compared to the end of June 2014, data released by the Malta Communications Authority show. During this period, the number of post-paid subscriptions was up by 13,998 (or by 11.1 per cent) and the number of pre-paid subscriptions was up by 830 (or by 0.2 per cent).
Mobile traffic volumes in the second quarter of 2015 were stronger than recorded in the same period of 2014. The number of mobile voice calls was up by almost 8.0 million (or by 6.1 per cent) and the number of mobile voice call minutes was up by 20.6 million (or by 11.4 per cent).
The number of SMSs sent was down by 13.7 million (or by 10.6 per cent) in the second quarter of 2015 when compared to the same period a year earlier.
On a per user level, the average number of mobile voice calls went up from 243 in the second quarter of 2014 to 224 in the second quarter of 2015 and the number of mobile voice call minutes went up from 335 to 362. At the same time, the average number of SMSs was down to 206 from 238.
Fixed telephony
The number of fixed telephony subscriptions totaled 228,991 by the end of June 2015, down by 1.5 per cent when compared to the end of June 2014. During this period, the number of post-paid subscriptions was up by 233 (or by 0.1 per cent) whilst the number of pre-paid subscriptions was down by 3,701 (or by 17.2 per cent).
The volume of originating fixed line calls and minutes in the second quarter of 2015 was lower than that recorded in the same period a year earlier. The number of fixed line voice calls was down by 7.5 per cent and the number of fixed line voice call minutes was down by 6.8 per cent.
On a per user level, the average number of fixed line voice calls fell from 183 in the second quarter of 2014 to 170 in the second quarter of 2015. At the same time, the average number of fixed line voice call minutes was also down, from 630 to 591.
Fixed broadband
The number of fixed broadband subscriptions was up by 6,729 (or by 4.5 per cent) in the period under review, from 148,175 at the end of June 2014 to 154,904 at the end of June 2015.
The number of internet subscriptions with download speeds lower than 30Mbps was down by 15.8 per cent, from 77,564 at the end of June 2014 to 65,330 at the end of June this year.
This decline was outweighed by increases recorded in terms of the number of fixed broadband subscriptions supporting fast and ultra fast download speeds.
The number of fixed broadband subscriptions with download speeds of 30Mbps but less than 100Mbps was up by 26.6 per cent, from 69,594 at the end of June 2014 to 88,079 at the end of June 2015.
The number of fixed broadband subscriptions with download speeds of 100Mbps or more was up by 47.0 per cent, from 1,017 at the end of June 2014 to 1,495 at the end of June 2015.
Pay TV
The number of pay TV subscriptions at the end of June 2015 was down 927 (or by 0.6 per cent) when compared to the end of June 2014.
The number of analogue pay TV subscriptions was down by 671 (or by 9.3 per cent), from 7,208 at the end of June 2014 to 6,537 at the end of June 2015.
The number of digital Pay TV subscriptions was down by 256 (or by 0.2 per cent), from 141,950 at the end of June 2014 to 141,694 at the end of June 2015. Three types of digital pay TV packages are commercially available. These are digital cable packages, digital terrestrial (DTTV) packages and Internet protocol (IPTV) packages.
The number of pay TV subscriptions on digital cable was down by 1,160 (or by 1.6 per cent), from 72,757 at the end of June 2014 to 71,597 at the end of June 2015.
The number of DTTV subscriptions was down by 5,317 (or by 8.9 per cent), from 59,904 at the end of June 2014 to 54,587 at the end of June 2015.
On the other hand, the number of IPTV subscriptions was up by 6,221 (or by almost 67 per cent), from 9,289 at the end of June 2014 to 15,510 at the end of June 2015.