Communications watchdog ends review of Go leased line rates

The Malta Communications Authority has published a decision on its pricing review of international leased lines.

The decision concludes the review and consultation process on Go's leased line prices, which was conducted throughout 2007 and the first half of 2008.

Leased lines are secure communications links offering dedicated capacity used to connect two geographically remote areas together. These links can be used to connect two local locations (local leased lines) or to link to a foreign destination point (international leased lines).

"This review of international leased line prices is expected to yield considerable benefits to end users as it was designed to address three main principles aimed at balancing the incentive for more infrastructure competition and investment, with the immediate benefits to both wholesale and retail end users. These principles are greater service flexibility, higher-capacity offerings and lower prices based on the principle of cost orientation," the MCA said.

The MCA's decision features two new international leased line services, namely the 34 Mbps and the 155 Mbps (STM-1) connections. While these are aimed at satisfying the growing demand for high capacity, interested parties may approach Go to discuss any technically-feasible wholesale demands for connectivity of higher capacity services.

On the pricing front, the review generally features lower prices, particularly for high capacity offerings. The MCA estimates that, on average, the price reductions amount to just over 40 per cent compared to current prices.

The MCA also designed its price review to offer flexibility to parties interested in buying an international link-up to Go's designated network node (international and local trunk segments) and continuing towards the required local location (terminating segment) by making use of either their own infrastructure or that of another provider. This also offers the opportunity to make use of different types of services offered by Go and other local operators, such as an ATM or Ethernet connection when it is technically feasible to do so.

The prices quoted for international leased lines in the MCA's decision cover the costs for a submarine connection half-way up to Sicily. In certain instances, prices quoted by Go for specific service requests, such as different foreign destination points or those containing bundled IP-bandwidth services, also include third-party costs, which are negotiated between Go and its foreign service providers on commercial terms. The MCA cannot regulate these additional third- party costs as they fall outside its jurisdiction. This notwithstanding, interested parties are free to purchase the regulated international link from Go and negotiate any additional requirements such as onward connectivity or IP-related services with a provider of their choice on an individual basis.

The MCA said it feels that, holistically, the new prices are better suited to cater for the growing international connectivity demands in Malta.