Telecoms regulator fines Maltacom Lm1,000 a day

The telecoms regulator has imposed a daily fine of Lm1,000 on Maltacom for refusing to provide services to Vodafone Malta.

The measure took effect on Tuesday.

Maltacom decided not to provide certain services to Vodafone after last October it had filed court proceedings against the mobile phone operator to recover Lm483,000 owed by Vodafone for signalling services provided by Maltacom since January, 2000. The action is still pending.

In view of the accumulating hefty bill, Maltacom has now also decided to initiate court proceedings against the Malta Communications Authority contesting the imposition of the fine.

The case against MCA is expected to be heard next week before the First Hall of the Civil Court but in the meantime the daily fine of Lm1,000 will continue to run.

A spokesman for the MCA said that while Maltacom should not be required to provide a service for which it was not being paid - the signalling services - it could not just stop providing other services to Vodafone Malta.

In a company announcement released through the Malta Stock Exchange a few days ago, Maltacom plc said that "given Vodafone's refusal to pay this substantial amount due to Maltacom and Maltacom's continuing provision of signalling services to Vodafone for which it is not being paid, Maltacom has not provided certain additional services required by Vodafone".

The company said that following exchanges with the MCA, the regulator, on January 8, issued a letter to Maltacom imposing a fine of Lm1,000 for each day during which Maltacom "persists in denying the provision of a leased line between Vodafone Malta and Swisscom and an additional signalling link between Vodafone's switch and Maltacom's Birkirkara switch".

The MCA's letter says the fine came into force last Tuesday and will run until the day Maltacom confirms to the MCA that it "will desist from blacklisting the provision of any services in conformity with this decision and undertake to provide Vodafone with such services within a period to be accepted by the authority".