How broadband killed the SMS text

The growing need for internet access on the move has made broadband the primary means of connectivity, effectively killing off the mobile phone’s Short Messaging System (SMS).

Greater mobility and internet connectivity have had a significant impact on telephone landlines and traditional mail, as the Malta Communications Authority’s (MCA) annual report shows how the pandemic hastened the transition to “communication on-the-go”.

The increased use of internet-based messaging systems like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger meant that in 2021, the number of SMS messages had dropped to 267 per subscriber from 286 a year earlier. In 2017, 558 SMSs per subscriber were sent.

Landlines take a hit, leading to higher tariffs

Mobile telephony and landlines faced significant uncertainty in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. However, mobile telephony rebounded in 2021, with a year-on-year increase in subscriptions as travel started to recover.

Calls and minutes from fixed-line phones decreased by 27% annually since 2018, leading to an increase in the average fixed-line tariff per minute.

The MCA found that the revenue for a national fixed call stood at 12c in 2021, up from 9c in 2020, while the rate for an international call stood at 48c in 2021.

The business sector was more prone to subscribe to bundle deals, with subscriptions up by almost 23% year-on-year. The MCA said a significant percentage of existing clients switched from a stand-alone setup to one acquired in conjunction with other telecom services.

There are currently four telecommunications providers offering fixed telephony services: GO, Melita, Epic and Vanilla Telecommunications.

In 2021, GO lost two percentage points in its fixed-telephony market share, to slightly less than 50%. At the same time, Melita gained market share by the same margin to reach 46%. Epic’s market share stood at 4% by the end of 2021, slightly down from 4.1% a year earlier.

Mobiles more attractive

The last few years saw the introduction of new fibre optic connection, hybrid fibre-coax cable and fifth generation (5G) mobile networks. This change materialised against the backdrop of 5G deployment and a 30% increase in domestic mobile data use year-on-year.

The need for data connectivity on the move caused the average data unit per subscription to rise from 53GB per month in 2020, to 76GB in 2021. Significantly, the sector added almost 12,000 new clients with growth in take-up marked by stronger uptake of post-paid plans.

Mobile subscriptions were up by 1.9% year-on-year, reaching a total of 644,955 by the end of 2021.

Even though pre-paid plans have been in decline for a number of years, with 14,000 removing their pre-paid subscription in the past 12 months, 56% of mobile subscriptions were still of this type.

Mobile post-paid subscriptions reported high growth, with around 25,600 subscriptions made in the past 12 months. In such a subscription, the user receives the service but pays the bill at the end of billing cycle.

Local service providers offer an array of electronic communications services in a bundle, but most of their subscribers still purchase their mobile subscription on stand-alone contract terms rather than incorporating it into a bundle featuring fixed services.

Epic held a leading market share in the mobile telephony market by the end of 2021, at 36.9% — slightly ahead of GO’s 36.5%. Melita’s market share stood at 25.6%. Year-on-year, Melita registered a market share gain, whilst Epic and GO saw their market share decline by 0.9 and 0.5 percentage points respectively.

MCC noted that clients were less likely to switch providers in 2020, when COVID-related uncertainty was at its highest.

With COVID travel restrictions being lifted in 2021, the volume of inbound and outbound roaming calls rose by 23.5% and 8.3% respectively when compared to 2020. Outbound roaming minutes were also up, in this case by 4.6%.

Fixed broadband subscriptions skyrocket

Fixed broadband subscriptions reached a whopping 221,198 users by the end of 2021, up by almost 4% from 2020.

MCA characterised these new users on plans as customers in need of fast download speeds. This led to subscription plans offering download speeds of 100Mbps or more being preferred by users.

In fact, while subscriber base grew by 8,166 clients in 2021, the number of subscriptions to such plans was up by 26,314 during the same period.

Local operators offer fixed broadband over different technologies, with fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) gradually taking over from the copper-based Digital Subscriber Line (DSL).

FTTH subscriptions were up by 12,365 in the 12-month period till the end of 2021. This was due to companies replacing their DSL infrastructure, switching their clients accordingly to FTTH.

This explains the year-on-year drop of 8,812 in copper-DSL subscriptions during the same period.

The MCA report shows that the number of broadband subscriptions on fixed wireless technology (home wifi) was up by 5% year-on-year, to reach 14,752 subscribers by the end of 2021.

As at the end of 2021, 94.3% of all broadband subscriptions were included in a bundle, up by 1.1 percentage points year-on-year

In Malta, fixed broadband services are largely provided by three operators. These are GO, Melita and Epic. Their market shares only changed marginally year-over-year. Melita’s market share stood at 48.4% at the end of 2021. In the same period, GO’s market share fell from 47% to 46.9%, while Epic’s grew from 4.4% to 4.6%.

UK, China customs clearing hits mail

The pandemic continued to have a detrimental influence on postal mail. The ongoing shift from a paper-based to a digital environment has also led to the fall in junk mail itself.

Other variables, such as changes in the procedures for clearing customs for goods travelling from the UK and China, had a detrimental impact on postal mail operations, particularly inbound cross-border correspondence as well.

In 2021, postal mail volumes fell by 3.4% compared to the previous year.

The authority noted that these results were consistent with the postal industry’s escalating competitiveness with prospects offered by technological advancements.

Postal mail went down from 32.2 million mail items to 31.1 million mail items in the year under review. The largest drops were in letter mail and parcel mail, which decreased by 13% and 8.4%, respectively.