Malta making steady digital progress

Malta has been making steady progress in its digital economy and now ranks 12th out of the 28 EU member states, moving up one place since 2015. The EU’s mid-term review of the 2015 Digital Single Market strategy highlighted a number of projects being undertaken by the Malta Communications Authority and other stakeholders to improve the ranking. • Malta ranks 9th in terms of connectivity, same as last year. As for the supply side of fixed broadband, Malta is the most advanced member state in the EU with all households covered by at least 30 Mbps broadband (EU average: 76 %). Fixed broadband take-up (80%) stands also above the EU average (74%). • The percentage of internet users in Malta slightly increased (76%) compared to one year ago (74%), but this was not enough to close the gap with the EU average (79%). • As regards digital skills, Malta shows a mixed picture. On the one hand, individuals with basic digital skills (49%) stand below EU average (56%). On the other hand, the percentage of ICT specialists in the labour force is now slightly higher (3.6%) than the EU average (3.5%). • When it comes to transactional services such as e-banking and shopping online, Malta stands...