{"id":7966,"date":"2025-02-03T08:25:52","date_gmt":"2025-02-03T07:25:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/?post_type=article&p=7966"},"modified":"2025-02-03T08:26:55","modified_gmt":"2025-02-03T07:26:55","slug":"l-uzu-tal-mowbajls-fmalta-qed-jimxi-mit-telefonija-ghall-internet","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/article\/l-uzu-tal-mowbajls-fmalta-qed-jimxi-mit-telefonija-ghall-internet\/","title":{"rendered":"Malta\u2019s mobile usage shifts towards data-centric services in 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Malta\u2019s mobile telephony landscape experienced significant shifts in 2023, with mobile subscriptions reaching 750,000, reflecting a 6.8% year-on-year growth. This brought the penetration rate to an impressive 135% of the population, up from 129.5% in 2022. However, users are moving away from traditional voice telephony, embracing data services and Voice over IP (VoIP) platforms such as WhatsApp and Messenger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These trends are highlighted in the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) annual report, which provides an in-depth analysis of telephony, data services, postal services, and television sectors. A standout development in 2023 was the surge in post-paid plans, which made up nearly half of all mobile subscriptions by the year\u2019s end. The narrowing gap between pre-paid and post-paid plans, from 63,972 in 2022 to just 938 in 2023, underscores a growing preference for data-centric, interconnected solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data usage soars while voice and SMS decline<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Driven by demand for data-heavy applications like gaming, extended reality, and video streaming, mobile broadband data usage soared by 49% year-on-year. Total domestic data consumption skyrocketed from 79.15 billion MB in 2022 to 117.87 billion MB in 2023, equating to 162,454 MB per active subscriber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In contrast, traditional communication methods like voice calls and SMSs continued to decline. Outgoing voice calls dropped by 3% to 494.88 million, with the average number of calls per user falling from 755 in 2022 to 682 in 2023. Similarly, SMS volumes plummeted by 10.3%, with users sending an average of 194 messages in 2023, down from 232 the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market dynamics among providers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three major operators dominate Malta\u2019s mobile market: Epic, GO, and Melita. Epic strengthened its lead, growing its market share from 39.7% in 2022 to 42.0% in 2023. Meanwhile, GO and Melita saw slight declines, holding 34.4% and 23.6% of the market, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

International roaming trends<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roaming services also saw an upward trend, fuelled by the EU\u2019s “Roam-Like-at-Home” framework, which allows users to pay domestic rates for roaming until 2032. Inbound roaming calls grew by 8.8% to 41.4 million in 2023, while inbound roaming minutes increased by 2% to 128.06 million. Outbound roaming calls rose by 3%, reaching nearly 11 million, with outbound roaming minutes growing marginally by 0.3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The future of Malta\u2019s mobile industry<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Malta transitions further into a data-driven digital environment, the decline in traditional telephony highlights changing consumer behaviours influenced by over-the-top (OTT) communication services. With mobile data consumption continuing to rise, the competitive edge in the telephony sector increasingly lies in broadband usage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MCA report paints a clear picture: Malta\u2019s mobile industry is evolving rapidly, shaped by consumer demand for seamless, data-intensive connectivity. The trend toward post-paid, data-rich plans reflects a broader global shift, signalling an era where mobile communication is defined by digital experiences rather than traditional voice and SMS services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Malta\u2019s mobile telephony landscape experienced significant shifts in 2023, with mobile subscriptions reaching 750,000, reflecting a 6.8% year-on-year growth. This brought the penetration rate to an impressive 135% of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7967,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"spay_email":""},"issuem_issue":[411],"issuem_issue_categories":[9],"issuem_issue_tags":[],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.8.8","language":"en","enabled_languages":["mt","en"],"languages":{"mt":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7966"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7966"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7966\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7970,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/7966\/revisions\/7970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue?post=7966"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_categories?post=7966"},{"taxonomy":"issuem_issue_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/weekly.uhm.org.mt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issuem_issue_tags?post=7966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}