Agreement on land line interconnection with Melita 'reasonably early'

Maltacom is currently corresponding with Melita on interconnection with its fixed line network and, according to chairman Sunny Portelli, "we are reasonably sure of reaching agreement reasonably early. We are very much seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. There is dialogue."

Mr Portelli told The Sunday Times last week that Maltacom never objected to establishing the interconnection and it was never its intention not to abide by the law. "Part of the discussions of Maltacom with Melita were on some pending issues, like termination rates."

He stressed the importance of having a level playing field in all areas that the company had to compete in.

While Maltacom was previously a monopoly, now it is a dominant player in some areas but still faces competition on many fronts and has been competing for many years. "Go Mobile is competing with the biggest mobile company in the world." The 10-21 service to phone abroad using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) was introduced in the face of competition from a host of private operators, who had been competing for four years.

"10-21 is a good, cost-effective feature and the market has accepted it. I am sure we will do well with our fixed line service."

Melita, on the other hand, is a dominant player in broadband, with 40 per cent of the market, and is even more dominant in cable tv, with over 70 per cent of the market.

"Anyone competing with us should be equally regulated," Mr Portelli said. Maltacom feels hard done by following the maximum possible fine of Lm10,000 plus Lm200 per day, especially since Melita was not treated similarly by the regulator when it launched Hello, its Voice over Broadband (VoB) service last year with heavily subsidised rates.

"We feel that Maltacom is heavily regulated while other private operators are lightly regulated," Mr Portelli affirmed. "Maltacom is appealing the Malta Communications Authority fine in court since this is a clear instance of different treatments meted out to two dominant operators.

"We were surprised at the fine. Maltacom is a serious, listed company. We have always been a good corporate citizen, discharging our obligations. We don't infringe laws. This fine was unnecessary and we believe there was too much haste in its application.

"The country is part of the EU and this means that we believe in fair competition and consumer choice."

Maltacom chief executive officer David Kay said Maltacom is currently working on a marketing plant that aims to "retain the company's market share, hopefully growing the share and bringing out new products". 2007 will see developments on many fronts.

Go Mobile will launch its 3G service. Maltanet will be merged with Maltacom and "a similar strategy may be on the cards with Go, while trying to preserve the value of both the Maltacom and Go Mobile brands".

The company aims to improve its customer service experience, attracting new areas of business and being pro-active in helping its customers do business.

Mr Portelli said he hoped that when Maltacom enters the digital tv market, it too will find a fair, level playing field. "There is always room for growth in our business. We are looking to grow despite a saturated market and the pressure of fixed line competition," he said.