
Thursday, 7th August 2008
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.




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Comments
are you asking for a Day or two free internet ( 2 Day's ) for as a compensation, of the
Fault of GO's Submarine cable ?
that will gain you approx, 0. 8 ewro cent's for two day's !!!
one thing is for sure is that GO has a great Service, plus the most dedicated and helpful customer care Service in Malta.
I agree with you all that this did caused a big inconveious to the GO's subcribers yes,
But I would prefer that GO, will at least Decide on their own free will, for some kind of
action to us the Go Family Subscribers. cheer's
Yesterday both businessman ad people at home had no internet services, the so called emergency plan don't even open your home page. FOR HOW LONG ARE WE GOING TO BE RIPPED OFF? Are there any rules in the EU about these things? If go can put the charges it wants it should deliver at least a decent service.Let`s not forget that we have the most expensive Internet service provided in Europe with A monopoly
Waiting to hear from my service provider on this matter.
This clearly shows how we are vulnerable to the slightest attack on the cables linking us to Sicily.
Why don't we have a permanent satellite link or invest in one instead of laying very costly cables to Sicily and stop depending on another country for our services?
Why not a satellite link as primary connection and cables as secondary connection in case of satellite link disruptions?
Seems that in Malta we always start at the end instead of the beginning.