The House of Representatives, meeting after the summer break, yesterday started debating amendments to communications laws to strengthen the role of the Malta Communications Authority. The opposition is backing the amendments.
Communications Minister Censu Galea at the opening of the debate spoke of the "revolution" in the communication sector over the past few years and said it appeared that the positive developments in this area changed the opposition's attitude to it.
Malta, he said, had removed all monopolies in this sector and the country was now ahead even of some of the other EU members.
He said the Bill was amending the Radiocommunications Act, the Postal Services Act, the Electronic Communications (Regulation) Act, the Malta Communications Authority Act and the Electronic Commerce Act.
Highlighting some of the progress made in the past few years, Mr Galea said liberalisation and the introduction of voice over internet protocol had seen a dramatic drop in the tariffs for overseas telephone calls.
Mobile telephony had grown from 25,000 seven years ago to 300,000 in January this year and he expected further growth as a third operator initiated services.
Mr Galea said growth had also been dramatic in the IT sector. From 8,000 account holders in 2000, there were now 90,000.
The government was taking measures to train more workers in this area.
Initiatives were also being taken to boost e-commerce.
Mr Galea said cable TV subscribers increased by 50 per cent from June 2000 to the present 40,000.
The minister said some of the amendments stemmed from EU requirements and would further enhance competitiveness, to the benefit of consumers. Changes also involved the regulatory framework to ensure the market's efficiency and guarantee investment made in the sector. Mr Galea said the government could not limit itself to amendments to ensure fair competition; it was duty-bound to ensure that there was a level playing field and that the consumer was given a fair deal.
The Communications Authority and the Office of Fair Competition had to work even closer together to ensure that consumers were given the best service possible while the operators made a fair profit. He complained, however, that certain operators tried to ignore decisions taken against them.
Going into some aspects of the Bill, Mr Galea said certain radio communication equipment would henceforth no longer require a licence.
With regard to postal services, the Malta Communications Authority (MCA) and the Standards Authority would be able to draw up technical recommendations to be followed by the universal service provider. The Bill also increased penalties where service providers did not observe the necessary standards. The maximum fine would be Lm10,000 or Lm200 per day. In the case of the Electronic Commerce Act this Bill was introducing a uniform procedure in the way of doing things. The legislation was providing a better definition of terms and improving how a service could be considered as constituting e-commerce. There was also a better definition of what constituted an electronic contract. Opposition IT spokesman Leo Brincat said that, while the MCA had an important role, it was keeping too low a profile. It seemed that the MCA preferred to take the back seat and act reactively, rather than proactively. When a local station blocked the transmission by other stations of football games after it obtained a licence to transmit them, the MCA was slow to react and only spoke up after the issue was brought up in Brussels by MEP Joe Muscat.
Mr Brincat insisted that the MCA needed to promote better customer care, innovation and choice in the areas of electronic trade and postal services. Indeed e-commerce was growing far too slowly.
The MCA should hold information seminars emphasising the importance of internet safety, educating parents on their children's exposure to internet abuse, educating consumers on e-security issues and promoting e-commerce and postal services.
The MCA could work more on internet affordability, something which was central to MLP policies.
Broadband prices had not moved downwards for years, Mr Brincat said. Mobile phone tariffs had also remained unchanged for the past three years. The available channels for DTTV had gone down to nine from 19. Competition in the sector of ISPs was actually narrowing. Furthermore, Mr Brincat said, operators were complaining about costs imposed by the MCA itself. Despite advances in telecommunications, the country still lacked a national strategy. Mr Brincat said the appeal process from MCA decisions needed to be revised because it was cumbersome and bureaucratic.
Underlining the need for a good quality service, Mr Brincat said the postal service had deteriorated. There were also worrying complaints in the IT sector, ranging from service failures to wrong billing or service providers not clearly explaining the terms and conditions bound to a service.
The MCA was now planning to issue guidelines for consumers. Why had it taken so long?
Mr Brincat said that costs of services in Malta were very high compared to other European countries. The MCA was finalising market analyses and he hoped they would positively influence retail prices for broadband internet. Melita's CEO Philip Micallef said that a major component of broadband costs was international bandwidth. He had suggested that, in the same way as other countries had EU subsidies for transport, there should also be EU funds to improve Malta's connectivity. What was the government's reaction to this?
Concluding, Mr Brincat spoke on the MLP's proposals for the IT sector including the creation of a task force between the government, local councils and the private sector to facilitate use of e-commerce.
There were also plans for programmes to educate the people on e-commerce. An e-commerce guide for Maltese and Gozitan SMEs should also be published together with a campaign to encourage the use of e-commerce.
The debate continues today.