Subscriptions to all forms of communication technology increased in this year’s second quarter when compared to the corresponding period in 2009.

The National Statistics Office said that the internet subscription index rose by nine per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter last year.

There was a shift in internet subscriptions from active narrowband (dial-up) to broadband. Year-on-year, the number of broadband users increased by 10.2 per cent while the number of dial-up users dropped by 86.6 per cent.

Furthermore, as at the end of the second quarter, 88.4 per cent of broadband subscribers had a connection speed of more than or equal to 2Mbps, but less than 10Mbps.

During the reference period, the pay TV subscription index rose by 7.8 per cent.

Analogue television subscriptions registered a drop of 48.4 per cent while digital subscriptions advanced by 30.4 per cent to stand at 123,528 subscriptions.

Digital subscriptions amounted to 86.3 per cent of the total.

The fixed-telephone subscription index edged up by 0.6 per cent. In absolute terms subscriptions reached a total of 246,615. Total fixed originating minutes to the national network amounted to around 169.1 million, a slight decrease over the comparative quarter in 2009.

Around 13.4 million minutes were directed towards an international network, with a drop of 7.2 per cent with respect to the previous year.

The absolute number of mobile telephone subscriptions totalled 439,536.

Post-paid and pre-paid schemes increased by 15.4 and 7.2 per cent respectively.

Thus, the mobile penetration rate per 100 people in the population amounted to 106.2 per cent, indicating more than one mobile subscription per person.

Local originating mobile traffic, outbound and inbound roaming all registered increases when compared to the corresponding period in 2009.

On the other hand, a decrease was registered in mobile originating minutes to international networks.

When compared to the second quarter of 2009, total postal traffic registered a drop of 1.4 per cent to stand at around 10.7 million items. Total parcels and other items were recorded at 18,131, a decrease of 13 per cent.

Items received and dispatched by couriers amounted to 101,875 - a decrease of one per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter last year.