Internet subscriptions surge 4.3pc

MUSCAT: The Sultanate’s total Internet subscriptions, excluding active mobile subscriptions, surged by 4.3 per cent to touch 442,572 by the end of April 2019, up from 424,284 by the end of December 2018. Of this, fixed broadband Internet connections, which have more than 256 kilobytes speed, increased by 4.3 per cent to 440,403 by the end of April 2019, according to the latest data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The number of active mobile broadband subscribers rose by 0.4 per cent to 4.13 million by the end of April 2019, from 4.113 million subscribers by the end of December 2018. Total fixed telephone lines rose by 2.3 per cent to 573,188 by the end of April 2019, from 560,326 subscribers by the end of December 2018. According to the NCSI report, the number of voice-over-Internet protocol (VoIP) lines surged by 5.5 per cent to 190,019 from 188,349 subscribers by the end of December 2018.

Further, analogue fixed telephone line connections rose by 0.6 per cent to 326,184 from 326,888 subscribers during the period under review. Public payphone connections remained unchanged at 6,801, whereas ISDN channels rose by 2 per cent to 48,529. Total number of mobile subscribers increased by 2.4 per cent to 6.596 million by the end of April 2019, from 6.440 million subscribers by the end of December 2018. Of this, postpaid mobile connections increased by 2.6 per cent to 731,265 from 712,622 subscribers in December 2018. Prepaid mobile connections also rose by 2.4 per cent to 5.864 million from 5.76 million at the end of December 2018. The number of subscribers of resellers plunged by 1.5 per cent to 745,439 from 756,799 at the end of December 2018. — ONA