Melita Cable is seriously considering rolling out its own wireless communication services, including mobile telephony and wireless internet access, and it should take the final decision in the coming months, i-Tech can reveal.
"There is no doubt the market for mobile cellular services is an interesting market that has grown over the years and has created good returns for the two players," commented Franco de Gabriele, marketing manager at Melita Cable, when asked to confirm the company's intentions.
"Melita has been studying this market and the possible entry in the market in the future. It is also well geared to enter the mobile cellular market given its distribution and customer base. Melita is blessed with a structure that is nimble enough to take decisions quickly but diligently. We are currently in the last phase of the feasibility study and hope to carve out the future plans within a few months."
Just a few days ago the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) has awarded the third and last available 3G mobile communication licence to 3G Telecommunications Ltd, thus paving the way for the third mobile operator in Malta alongside Go and Vodafone Malta. These two are already providing 3G services across the Maltese Islands after being assigned a licence two years ago.
I-Tech is informed that Melita has started discussions with one of the incumbent mobile operators for the eventual roll out of mobile cellular services as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), that is an operator that relies on the infrastructure of an established mobile network operator (MNO) such as Vodafone Malta and Go, to provide its services. On the other hand Melita Cable did apply with the MCA a couple of years ago for a licence to provide internet broadband wireless access (BWA), or Wi-Max as it is commonly referred to, but failed to obtain it. The successful bidders for the three available licences where once again Go and Vodafone Malta together with a consortium of local internet service providers named Cellcom.
"Unfortunately Melita ranked fourth in the bidding process despite having promised definite roll-out plans and clear benefits to the consumers," lamented Mr de Gabriele. "Today only one company has launched the service according to the original obligations. This proves our initial thesis that companies applying for the licence wanted to have the licence to control the space rather than providing new opportunities for customers. Melita is still hopeful of obtaining such a licence."
It is still early to see which technologies will be tested and eventually adopted and the cable operator is keeping all options open.
The considerations seem to be partly placed on the current market structure of mobile communication services, where it has identified a specific role to play.
"Despite being small, the market in Malta still offers opportunities. Melita believes there is a lot of value in the mobile cellular market and this is mostly due to the pricing structures that currently exist. In a duopoly it is clear that prices remain somewhat higher than the norm and the market is split somewhere in the middle. "When analysing the market carefully one also finds out that the pricing structures are quite complicated and for a lot of people the cost of a mobile call is unknown. Things will change when a new operator comes in irrespective of quadruple play. The mobile is a personalised service whereas TV, broadband and fixed-telephony are household services. Needless to say, however, that with mobile services under its wing Melita will be in a better position to market its other services," according to Melita's marketing manager.
If Melita enters into the wireless communication market it would have made a significant departure from its roots that are well placed into the ground with cable TV, cable internet and fixed-line telephony over cable. On the other hand it would become the first communications company to provide quadruple play - fixed-line telephony, mobile telephony, internet access and TV reception services at the same time and thus compete head-to-head with Go, the only quadruple player so far in Malta.
"With convergence of services a company like Melita cannot be seen to be entrenched into one of other services. Historically, Melita was a provider of cable TV services but now it also provides broadband services as well as fixed telephony services. When it comes to the commercial reasons, there is only one aspect - return on investment."
The investment in Melita Cable is significant, calculated at Lm30 million since 1991, and the new majority shareholders, GMT Communications Partners, had to pay €167 million to seal the deal a few weeks ago. However, the decision to see whether the company should enter the wireless communication market was not related to this deal.
"We have been studying the entry into mobile cellular before the new shareholders took over at Melita," confirmed Mr de Gabriele.
"There is no doubt the market for mobile cellular services is an interesting market that has grown over the years and has created good returns for the two players," commented Franco de Gabriele, marketing manager at Melita Cable, when asked to confirm the company's intentions.
"Melita has been studying this market and the possible entry in the market in the future. It is also well geared to enter the mobile cellular market given its distribution and customer base. Melita is blessed with a structure that is nimble enough to take decisions quickly but diligently. We are currently in the last phase of the feasibility study and hope to carve out the future plans within a few months."
Just a few days ago the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) has awarded the third and last available 3G mobile communication licence to 3G Telecommunications Ltd, thus paving the way for the third mobile operator in Malta alongside Go and Vodafone Malta. These two are already providing 3G services across the Maltese Islands after being assigned a licence two years ago.
I-Tech is informed that Melita has started discussions with one of the incumbent mobile operators for the eventual roll out of mobile cellular services as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), that is an operator that relies on the infrastructure of an established mobile network operator (MNO) such as Vodafone Malta and Go, to provide its services. On the other hand Melita Cable did apply with the MCA a couple of years ago for a licence to provide internet broadband wireless access (BWA), or Wi-Max as it is commonly referred to, but failed to obtain it. The successful bidders for the three available licences where once again Go and Vodafone Malta together with a consortium of local internet service providers named Cellcom.
"Unfortunately Melita ranked fourth in the bidding process despite having promised definite roll-out plans and clear benefits to the consumers," lamented Mr de Gabriele. "Today only one company has launched the service according to the original obligations. This proves our initial thesis that companies applying for the licence wanted to have the licence to control the space rather than providing new opportunities for customers. Melita is still hopeful of obtaining such a licence."
It is still early to see which technologies will be tested and eventually adopted and the cable operator is keeping all options open.
The considerations seem to be partly placed on the current market structure of mobile communication services, where it has identified a specific role to play.
"Despite being small, the market in Malta still offers opportunities. Melita believes there is a lot of value in the mobile cellular market and this is mostly due to the pricing structures that currently exist. In a duopoly it is clear that prices remain somewhat higher than the norm and the market is split somewhere in the middle. "When analysing the market carefully one also finds out that the pricing structures are quite complicated and for a lot of people the cost of a mobile call is unknown. Things will change when a new operator comes in irrespective of quadruple play. The mobile is a personalised service whereas TV, broadband and fixed-telephony are household services. Needless to say, however, that with mobile services under its wing Melita will be in a better position to market its other services," according to Melita's marketing manager.
If Melita enters into the wireless communication market it would have made a significant departure from its roots that are well placed into the ground with cable TV, cable internet and fixed-line telephony over cable. On the other hand it would become the first communications company to provide quadruple play - fixed-line telephony, mobile telephony, internet access and TV reception services at the same time and thus compete head-to-head with Go, the only quadruple player so far in Malta.
"With convergence of services a company like Melita cannot be seen to be entrenched into one of other services. Historically, Melita was a provider of cable TV services but now it also provides broadband services as well as fixed telephony services. When it comes to the commercial reasons, there is only one aspect - return on investment."
The investment in Melita Cable is significant, calculated at Lm30 million since 1991, and the new majority shareholders, GMT Communications Partners, had to pay €167 million to seal the deal a few weeks ago. However, the decision to see whether the company should enter the wireless communication market was not related to this deal.
"We have been studying the entry into mobile cellular before the new shareholders took over at Melita," confirmed Mr de Gabriele.