July 1999

Malta Master Report

1. Geographical facts

The geography of Malta (370.000 inhabitants and 276 sq. km) is extremely important to understand the local situation and the development of IS Projects, alternative networks, regulatory framework, etc. The geographical information strongly characterizes all the input for this survey.

In Malta there is no railway network, no canals, waterways, no gas networks, no highways, etc., only 20% of TV sets are connected by cable and there is no area code for the telephones. Therefore there are no possibilities for alternative networks.

Limitations

The small physical size of the Maltese Islands inflicts an inherent limitation on the variety of utility services that are required, some of which might not even be necessary. The salient utilities that serve the islands are Water, Drainage, Electricity, Telephony and for the past few years Cable TV. This in turn limits the need of alternative telecommunications networks within the archipelago.

There are other factors that play an important role if and when utility services organisations consider setting up their own telecommunications infrastructure. So far none of the utility organisations publicly expressed an intention to diversify into this business area or to have these facilities for their own use. One could thus assume that there are no immediate plans for them to set their own infrastructure. The main contributing factors include:

• The country is well served with a modern network of data and voice communications, which is generally, used for all the communications requirements of utility organisations.
• Local telecommunications costs, particularly those of voice services, could be considered as very low and thus attractive.
• The range of telecommunications services offered by the main operator cover much more than what is actually required by utility organisations.
• There is a general shortage of human resources in the areas of information technology and telecommunications and so utility companies would have to offer relatively high salaries from the outset if they decide to set up the necessary infrastructure.
• In general, there is room for improvement in almost all utility services and this restricts these organisations to concentrate their efforts on improving their core business as a matter of priority.

2. Cable TV

The Cable TV (CATV) company, Melita Cable p.l.c. has been set up towards 1990 and since then started to lay its cable network to provide a number of television stations to the Maltese community. Its network is a hybrid of optic fibre and co-axial cable with active electronic equipment distributed in the streets close to the subscriber. The last part of the distribution network reaching subscribers is generally installed above ground. The network coverage of the company is estimated to be about 80%. Part of the infrastructure of Melita Cable is installed in duct routes owned by Maltacom p.l.c. (formerly Telemalta Corporation), the traditional provider of telecommunications services in Malta.

The CATV company has, during the past months, shown increasing interest in providing data services particularly the provisioning of Internet access over its network. In order to provide these services, the active equipment in the company’s network might need upgrading to handle two-way communications and thus to convey users’ responses to the head end.

One of the most important developments that took place during recent months was the partnership between one of the local Internet Service Providers (ISP) and the CATV company. The company had also announced an alliance with an American company that provides Web TV services.

3. The Malta Government Network (MAGNET)

Towards the beginning of the nineties, Government felt the need to modernise and improve its operations. The Management Systems Unit (MSU) was set up as a limited liability company wholly owned by government to improve the then existing operations within government departments and ministries. The main objective of the company was to review existing processes and systems and apply information technology within government operations in order for the civil service to be more effective.

This resulted in the setting up of a number of information systems linked through a modern communications infrastructure. Although basic communications facilities were provided by the main telecommunications carrier, MSU installed state-of-the-art networking infrastructure which facilitated the sharing of valuable information over the Malta Government (wide area) network, nicknamed MAGNET. This could eventually be also made available to Local Government.

Within the past three years or so the objectives of the company have been reviewed and the company’s name has been changed to Malta Information Technology and Training Services (MITTS) Limited. The company is still maintaining and modernising the facilities that have been installed to keep up with the ever-increasing demands for more effectiveness and co-ordination within the civil service.

Even though this is not in itself a public network, the number of users (within the civil service) that are connected to this network to share information and resources cannot be underestimates given the limited size of the local market. MAGNET also provides direct access to the Internet.

The Minister of Justice and Local Government announced that project plans to link Local Councils to access central government resources and to provide government services on-line were in place with the project expected to be launched towards the first quarter of year 2000.

As MAGNET expands further, so does the potential of having another alternative data communications network.