A total of 35.1 million SMSs were sent in March, the National Statistics Office said yesterday. Other mobile communication traffic included 57,592 MMSs; and 13,584 WAPs.

In the month under review, a decrease of 0.02 per cent was recorded in the mobile subscription index. The number of mobile telephones reached 325,642 in absolute terms; this translates into 80.5 per cent of the population.

Contract-based mobile telephone subscriptions were recorded at 27,615, while card-plan subscriptions reached 298,027. Around 14 million minutes were consumed in mobile telephone networks, while those directed to the fixed-line network amounted to 2.2 million.

As at end March 2006 the fixed telephone subscription index increased by 0.1 per cent from 104.0 in February 2006 to 104.1. Minutes used in fixed-line telephony on local calls amounted to around 58 million, with some 40 million minutes from residential subscriptions and the rest from business premises subscriptions. The international fixed-telephony traffic comprised 211,262 calls, equivalent to around 0.5 million minutes.

In the month under review VOIP minutes were estimated at around 0.6 million. The pager subscription index remained the same as that of February 2006.

Internet subscriptions

The internet subscription index rose by 0.1 per cent from 284.5 as at end February 2006 to 284.9 as at end March 2006. The rate of Internet subscriptions per 100 persons reached 22.1. Narrowband and broadband subscriptions were respectively recorded at 46,961 and 42,537.

Cable and digital subscriptions

In the month under review, the cable and digital subscription index rose by 0.1 per cent from 127.9 in February 2006 to 128.0 in March 2006. Cable and digital television subscriptions were recorded at 26.8 per 100 persons as at end of March 2006.

In absolute terms, the total of cable and digital subscriptions amounted to 108,458. An increase of 0.2 per cent was recorded over the previous month. In the month under review residential analogue subscriptions decreased by 4.2 per cent while residential digital subscriptions went down by 11.6 per cent.