The Office of the Commissioner for Electronic Communications and Postal Regulation (OCECPR) recorded increases in fixed telephony connections, fixed broadband access, the number of mobile users and fixed and mobile data volumes, according to the statistics for the Electronic Communications Market with data up to June 2024, released on Tuesday.

As stated in a press release issued by the Office, in terms of fixed telephony and broadband access during the first half of 2024 there was a slight increase in total fixed telephony connections, with 4,019 new connections compared to the second half of 2023.

It is added that Fiber Optic connections have continued their upward trend, with fiber optic networks now being the main fixed line connection covering 72.9% of the market.

It is added that fixed broadband access showed a slight increase of 2,580 subscribers or 0.7% compared to the second half of 2023, with a particularly significant increase (+6%) in connections with speeds ≥100Mbps, due to the expansion of high-capacity networks and free access speed upgrades. At the same time, the share of subscribers with speeds above 1Gbps increased by 0.5% to 3.3%.

The average data volume per fixed line in Q2 2024 was 1.04 TB, continuing its upward trend, while the total data volume for the first half of 2024 increased by 7.3% compared to the second half of 2023.

In mobile telephony, according to the data, the first half of 2024 saw an increase of 32,858 users compared to the second half of 2023, with the contract subscription rate showing an increase of 1.1% and contracts offering unlimited data, voice and SMS making up 57.1% of total contracts.

It is added that the ratio of mobile users to the population of the Republic of Cyprus increased by 3.6%, reaching 158.8%, an increase attributable to contract subscriptions, as prepaid users decreased by 6,032 in the same period. Total data volume for the first half of 2024 increased by 17.9% compared to the second half of 2023, reaching 116,610 TB, surpassing the 100,000 TB mark for the first time in six months.

Moreover, total data volume (fixed and mobile) during the first half of 2024 showed an increase of 67,644 TB (+8.6%) compared to the second half of 2023, while the percentage of data via fixed broadband access fell below 90%, reaching 85.81% in Q2 2024, due to the increase in mobile contracts with unlimited data, a trend that is expected to continue, the press release concluded.