Submarine cable fault leaves Go clients offline

A fault in the submarine cable between Malta and Sicily, leaving thousands without internet access for several hours and causing panic among business users, was caused by a third party Italian contractor on land in Sicily, communications company Go, which operates the link, said yesterday.

The damage occurred three kilometres away from the Telecom Italia site in Catania and was fixed by 7.15 p.m.

The services powered by this cable, including broadband-related services, international voice traffic, and roaming, were restored soon after.

The fault affected international voice telephony, with e-mail services and broadband internet also becoming widely unavailable across the island.

Go's contingency plan came into operation to provide "limited broadband and international voice backup service via a microwave link with Sicily as well as satellite communication services", but many clients were bereft of internet access.

Go's head of communications and public affairs Franco Aloisio said while the company's main priority was to provide internet access to its clients, the backup microwave link system was "very limited."

The link was allocated to international voice communication, leased lines and internet broadband, and could not keep up with the demand placed upon it by internet access. The mishap underscored the importance of Go's recent decision to build a second submarine cable, which is expected be completed within four to five months, he said.

Vince Farrugia, director-general of the Chamber for Medium and Small Enterprises - GRTU said the disruption had caused widespread panic among businesses.

"The Malta Communications Authority needs to tell us exactly what it has been doing to ensure there is full back-up in such circumstances," he said.

On its part, the MCA said that, as soon as it became aware of the matter, it contacted Go to ensuring that contingency plans were put in place and to keep updated about the fault.

The MCA was in touch with the regulatory authority in Italy (AGCOM), requesting it to "assist by seeking to facilitate the earliest reinstatement of the cable".

The authority said it will be drawing its own conclusions and will, today, carry out a post-mortem to see what needs to be done to improve and speed up contingency plans of all operators offering this international service.

Onvol and Hello customers were not affected by the cable fault, according to Melita Cable.

Melita said that thanks to alternative provisions for international connectivity and broadband internet, clients were able to carry on with their business.

Reacting to the developments, the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications expressed concern at the consequences of the fault. It noted that the availability of an alternative international connection over the infrastructure owned by Vodafone has ensured that the island was not entirely isolated and could resort to alternatives.

Malta will have four submarine cables linking it to the continent by 2010, it added. There are currently two, the one belonging to Go and another owned by Vodafone.