Key market Indicators for electronic communications and post: Q1 2013 to Q4 2017

The MCA has today published the latest figures for the sectors of electronic communications and post, including the year 2017.  

The most notable key trend is the uptake of all electronic communications services, particularly mobile telephony and fixed broadband, with the increased demand for bundled subscriptions being the most significant.

High-speed broadband adoption is proceeding at a very fast pace, with subscriptions to a minimum of 100Mbps download speed increasing by 25,729 over the 12-month period ending in December 2017. The premium paid by consumers for the high-speed service strengthened fixed broadband average revenue per user (ARPU).

Developments for the mobile sector were also very solid, marked by a strengthening subscriber base, more buoyant voice minute volumes and stronger active usage of mobile broadband data services. Mobile telephony ARPU declined slightly between 2016 and 2017, mainly as a result of the falling rate per minute of communication by way of more beneficial minute allowances and an element of temporary discounting.

Meanwhile, the rise in fixed telephony subscriptions did not reverse dwindling fixed traffic volumes observed throughout the past years, given fixed-to-mobile substitution.

Uptake of pay-TV was up in 2017, in contrast to the decline in subscriptions observed in the period 2015 to 2016. GO’s IPTV and Melita’s digital cable platforms recorded an increase in subscriptions of 39.8% and 18.5% respectively. Melita’s analogue subscriptions are almost all gone as clients were notified that the service shall be terminated by the end of 2018.

In the postal sector, an increase in volumes was observed towards the end of the year due to seasonal demand. However, in the long run, postal mail volumes declined steadily, given that the rise in parcel mail volumes was not sufficient to outweigh declines in other mail segments.

Information on the Data Report Sheet (DRS) publication

The DRS publication includes the main trends and developments in Malta concerning electronic communications and post. Data is presented on a quarterly and annual basis.

The current DRS publication covering the period Q1 2013 to Q4 2017 and is available here.

Notes: (i) Data cut-off date: 9th March 2018; (iii) Data is preliminary and subject to change.