A trend in Europe for mobile phones to replace fixed line telephones is not catching on in Malta despite the high penetration rate of the latter.
The Malta Communications Authority said today that according to a survey it had carried out, just 0.5% of respondents plan to substitute fixed line by mobile telephony in the next 12 months.
The survey also found that some 8% of households are subscribed to more than one operator of fixed-line telephone services and 77% of them do not plan to disconnect either of them.
When reporting on the fact that mobile phones are not substituting fixed line telephony, the MCA noted that both the number of fixed line connections and mobile connections have increased in the past years, at a time when more aggressive mobile plans have been launched.
It said the majority of people still prefer to use their fixed line telephone when at home, rather than their mobile phone.Around 51% of households said they would use the (fixed line) telephone, while only 9% claim that they would use their mobile phone instead.
On the other hand, the remaining 40% of households said their preference between using the fixed telephone or mobile would typically depend on whether the call is made to another landline or mobile, on the person being called and on how long the call would take.
Of those households that said they prefer to use their fixed telephone, 36% viewed landline calls to be cheaper, 28% claimed the telephone was easier to handle, 20% said they did not have a mobile phone, while the rest said they usde the telephone out of habit. On the other hand, those who preferred to use the mobile over the fixed telephone line did so because of SMSs, mobility and direct access to the contact list on the mobile phone.
In terms of pricing, less than 20% of all households knew how much it cost to make calls from a landline; be it to another landline or a mobile phone. Notwithstanding this, whilst the majority of households perceived landline calls to another landline to be cheap or reasonably priced, 60% of households felt landline calls to a mobile phone were still expensive.
“Notwithstanding the perceptions of the majority of the population, it is clear that increasing numbers of subscribers are recognising that call rates to mobile phones have gone down over the years. This is clearly witnessed by the ever increasing traffic registered from fixed to mobile networks. To this effect the Authority feels that although Maltese consumers are still attached to their fixed telephone and are not planning to remove such a connection, demand for mobile services is on the increase. This is the result of more advantageous mobile call rates which are narrowing the gap between fixed and mobile call rates.”, Ing. Philip Micallef said.
The survey also found that 49% of households with fixed line telephone access make international calls from their fixed line, with 66% using theTen21 service, 12% using the GO fixed line service and 11% using the Melita fixed line service. In this case, 87% of those who said they make international calls claim that the rates for the service are cheap or reasonable.
In terms of satisfaction levels, 95% of GO subscribers and 76% of Melita subscribers were highly satisfied or satisfied with the fixed telephony service they have. Some 73% of households with a Melita fixed line connection said their subscription formed part of a bundle, reflecting the fact that Melita had originally packaged access to fixed telephone services together with internet broadband access. With respect to GO, 43% of households with a fixed line connection said that their subscription forms part of a bundle.
12% of households changed their fixed line operator over the last two years. 37% of them switched operators to benefit from a bundle offer, 27% claimed the other operator had better products and services, while 20% said that the other operator had cheaper call rates. 70% of those who switched operators over the last two years opted to retain their original number. 79% of those who changed operators claimed that switching was not difficult.