Melita takes its fight against Maltacom to EU

Melita Cable, which claims that Maltacom and its subsidiary Mobisle Communications are excluding it from the fixed telephony market, has taken its case to the European Commission.

"We are taking this case very seriously and cannot wait indefinitely to launch our telephone service, as we are entitled to do," Melita CEO Philip Micallef told The Times.

Last week Melita filed a judicial protest requesting Maltacom and Mobisle to sign an interconnect agreement.

This agreement, already discussed and drafted, would allow a subscriber on Melita's fixed telephony to contact, and be contacted by a Maltacom and Mobisle subscriber.

In the protest, Melita called on the two companies to sign the agreement, under the fair conditions that had already been agreed upon, within three days and held them liable in any damages suffered.

Melita also claimed that their refusing to sign the agreement constituted an abuse of dominance in terms of the Competition Act and a European Community Treaty.

They were excluding Melita from the fixed telephony market and effectively stopping it from providing this service to its consumers.

On not getting any feedback from the two companies, Melita has now taken its case to the Director General Competition, Antitrust Registry of the European Commission.,

In its complaint to the Commission, Melita is insisting that the company is ready to provide fixed line telephony services in direct competition with Maltacom, and that both Maltacom and Mobisle are obliged from a regulatory perspective to negotiate and conclude interconnect agreements with Melita.

Speaking to The Times Mr Micallef said: "I can only say that we have chosen what we think is the fastest and most effective route to get the interconnect agreement signed by Maltacom, since this is also a very serious matter in that it is prohibiting competition not only in the local market, but also trade between member states with regards to international telephony."