Comprehensive telephone directory

I refer to the article of July 8 by Ivan Camilleri entitled EU Warns Malta Over Telephone Listings.

Mr Camilleri states that the European Commission has given Malta two months to justify the unavailability of a comprehensive telephone directory and a directory enquiry service comprising all listed telephone subscribers of both fixed and mobile services.

I would like to clarify that comprehensive directory enquiry services are available in Malta. This means that when accessing any of the directory enquiry services, namely 1182 for Maltacom, 1189 for Vodafone and 1187 for Go Mobile, a consumer will be provided with all telephony numbers, whether fixed or mobile, on condition that the numbers required are listed. In this respect, the statement by the Commission is incorrect and the Commission has acknowledged this error.

With regard to access to an online or physical comprehensive telephone directory service, the authority is taking measures to ensure its availability at the earliest.