GABORONE, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- Botswana's latest figures have indicated growth in the country's internet usage in last year.

Statistics Botswana (SB) on Friday said the country's internet use rose by about 9 percent in 2017.

With a population of just over 2 million, the SB said a total of 1,581,855 internet users were registered in 2017 from 1,451,107 subscriptions recorded in 2016.

"Most of this growth came from mobile internet subscriptions," said the Statistician General Burton Mguni, adding the group constituted about 96.9 percent of the total of the internet subscriptions.

The data authority said internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants increased from 65 subscriptions in 2016 to 70 subscriptions in 2017, while mobile internet subscriptions per 100 inhabitants increased to 68 subscriptions in 2017 as compared to 63 subscriptions in 2016.

Mguni however said both mobile cellular telephone subscriptions and fixed telephone subscriptions declined.

"Mobile cellular telephone subscriptions went down from 3,288,986 subscriptions recorded in 2016 to 3,249,903 subscriptions in 2017, registering a fall of 1.2 percent," he said.

He said fixed telephone subscriptions registered a moderate fall of 0.6 percent as compared to mobile cellular telephone subscriptions.