Better regulation on connectivity sought

Alternattiva Demokratika has urged the Malta Communication Authority (MCA) to strengthen regulations on internet provision in Malta.

"Recent events have shown how fragile the current provision of internet in Malta can be. There are for the moment only two cables connecting the local internet to the European backbone, each of them owned by a private company. Regulations should be in place for extraordinary events: each cable operator has to be allowed to use appropriate bandwidth from its competitor when technical faults occur in their cable connectivity," the party said.

Henrik Piski, the party's IT spokesman, said: "During the internet cable connectivity interruption which happened to GO 10days ago, the public realized that there was no real fallback procedure in place. GO users were not able to use the international internet connection. As Malta has a particular geographical position and connectivity to the international hub is only provided by two companies, the MCA has to make sure that these serious events do not happen again. It is not acceptable to have to wait months or years till alternative cables to the next hub are put in place".

"The existing infrastructure has to be fairly shared between the two operators under the supervision of the Malta Communication Authority in these extraordinary circumstances."