The number of subscribers to telecommunications services in the UAE rose to around 24 million during the first five months of 2018, a growth of around 2 per cent compared to the end of 2017, a media report said.

All relevant sectors registered growth since the start of the current year, highlighting the availability of telecommunications services offered to clients by the operators Etisalat and Du, reported Emirates news agency Wam, citing the latest statistics issued today by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).

The number of mobile phone penetration increased from 226 to 230 lines per 100 subscribers while for landlines, this figure reached 26.4 lines for the same number of residents and around 15.3 lines per 100 subscribers for broadband internet services.

The statistics also showed an increase in the number of mobile phone subscribers to 20.254 million at the end of May 2018, a growth of around 2 per cent compared to December 2017.

The number of pre-paid mobile phone subscriptions totalled 16.891 million at the end of May, an increase of 350,000 compared to the end of 2017.

The number of post-paid mobile phone subscriptions rose to 3.363 million at the end of May, an increase of 80 compared to the end of last year.

Mobile phone services accounted for over 80 per cent of the revenue of telecommunications operators while the rest of the revenues came from other services, such as data, the internet and landlines.

The total number of internet subscriptions reached 1.350 million at the end of May, with broadband services accounting for 99.9 per cent of these subscriptions.

The total number of landlines reached 2.323 million at the end of May, which is the same number registered in 2017.