It all happens at the bottom of the sea
Tangible proof that our country has become heavily dependent on internet access was given on August 6 when Go's submarine cable between Malta and Sicily suffered an outage, caused by third parties in Sicily, that left most of Malta in digital darkness...
Tangible proof that our country has become heavily dependent on internet access was given on August 6 when Go's submarine cable between Malta and Sicily suffered an outage, caused by third parties in Sicily, that left most of Malta in digital darkness and without voice calls and mobile roaming services.
With connectivity restored only by the end of the day, the incident raised some important questions about Malta's ICT infrastructure. If it is true that we have good communications infrastructure in our country, why is it that we are so vulnerable when connecting to the rest of the world? Are submarine cables the only reliable link we can have?
"Malta, like many other nations, is dependent on submarine cables for its international communications. Like all other communications technologies, these cables may suffer damage as experienced two weeks ago," explained a spokesman from the Malta Communications Authority (MCA). "However, these events while not rare do not occur regularly."
Both the MCA and Go confirmed that this was the first failure experienced in Malta that was due to physical damage to the submarine cable. Previous blackouts were due to problems on the European internet backbone. Physical damage to submarine cables around the world is not infrequent, mostly caused by earthquakes.
"Any submarine cable, like any other cable, is potentially exposed to incidents both on land and at sea. Such an incident was an unfortunate one which we hope will never happen again," said Franco Aloisio, head of communications at Go, adding that the company did all it could in the face of a problem that was not its fault.
Picture this. If this outage had happened in 2003, Malta would have lost all internet connectivity as it had just one submarine cable. Indeed in 2004 Vodafone commissioned its own cable, aware of the limitations posed by just one connection and the ever-increasing demand for more internet-based services.
By the end of this year Go is expected to commission its second cable and Melita Cable will have its first one, both connected to Sicily. The decision to have these last two cables was taken many months ago and the incident of August 6 seems to have vindicated the decision.
Although there are wireless technologies such as microwave and satellite links as an alternative to fixed-line links, cables generally can carry more capacity and are also accepted as providing better quality of service. The International Cable Protection Committee, an association of 86 submarine cable operators, says more than 95 per cent of voice and data traffic is carried by such cables and the rest by satellite.
"The existence of more than one such cable ensures that enterprises that need to ensure continuity of service have the possibility of contracting with more than one supplier. Notwithstanding this, the appropriate way to address the issue is by ensuring sufficient redundancy and resiliency in the network," added the MCA spokesman.
Redundancy and resilience, though crucial, need the backing of all the local communications operators.
"In the past years there were discussions between Go and Vodafone to provide mutual resiliency. But these discussions have led to nowhere," revealed Go's head of communications.
"With the decision taken by Go's board of directors last year and which was announced last January to invest in our own second submarine cable to Sicily, which will have a totally different landing route and we will be utilising a different provider - Interoute - Go will be the only telecoms provider in Malta to have two submarine cables to mainland Europe.
This project, which is estimated to be completed by the end of the year, is of national importance and will provide resiliency and backup in such instances."
Although the MCA and other communications providers said they are not aware of reports of long-term negative consequences for business in Malta as a result of the blackout, the event did leave its mark.
Melita Cable, which provides access to almost half of the country's high-speed internet subscribers, said its immediate action on August 6 prevented its voice service and internet broadband service customers from suffering long hours of downtime, as it was able to switch its connectivity provider in no time, causing practically no disruption to its clients.
"Following the incident, Melita's corporate services department received a number of enquiries and direct orders for main and redundancy services on broadband and telephony, mainly from major banking institutions, ITC companies and i-gaming companies," according to Stephen Wright, chief operations officer at the communications company.
In 2004 Vodafone Malta became the first private communications provider in Malta to launch its own submarine cable to Sicily, in reply to ever-increasing demands for internet services by the burgeoning i-gaming and ICT sector. It wasn't easy.
"Vodafone had to face very difficult obstacles ranging from lack of experience on the island to ongoing political issues abroad. This is because building an international gateway is quite a vast and complex project," recalled Albert Zerafa, gateway and roaming manager at the company. "But, through proper planning, Vodafone finished this project in only 11 months."
While Go and Melita Cable continue to work on the launch of their submarine cables, to bring the total to four, the MCA is responding to the wave of negative feedback from the victims of the outage on August 6.
"The MCA envisages two parallel actions. In the short term, the MCA will continue to very strongly advise all operators to, on a voluntary basis, provide increased resilience in international connectivity by purchasing capacity from each other. If necessary, the MCA will broker such an agreement. Secondly, the MCA is currently reviewing the legal framework to ensure that it can mandate certain contingency actions that need to be taken," the authority spokesman confirmed.
In the meantime several internet users have vented their frustration on timesofmalta.com. While some of them blamed
Go, others gave a more balanced view on the strengths and weaknesses of the current Maltese internet set-up. Others have clamoured for compensation for the loss of access experienced for a whole day.
"There are a number of options which Go is actively considering," the company's head of communications reassured.
With connectivity restored only by the end of the day, the incident raised some important questions about Malta's ICT infrastructure. If it is true that we have good communications infrastructure in our country, why is it that we are so vulnerable when connecting to the rest of the world? Are submarine cables the only reliable link we can have?
"Malta, like many other nations, is dependent on submarine cables for its international communications. Like all other communications technologies, these cables may suffer damage as experienced two weeks ago," explained a spokesman from the Malta Communications Authority (MCA). "However, these events while not rare do not occur regularly."
Both the MCA and Go confirmed that this was the first failure experienced in Malta that was due to physical damage to the submarine cable. Previous blackouts were due to problems on the European internet backbone. Physical damage to submarine cables around the world is not infrequent, mostly caused by earthquakes.
"Any submarine cable, like any other cable, is potentially exposed to incidents both on land and at sea. Such an incident was an unfortunate one which we hope will never happen again," said Franco Aloisio, head of communications at Go, adding that the company did all it could in the face of a problem that was not its fault.
Picture this. If this outage had happened in 2003, Malta would have lost all internet connectivity as it had just one submarine cable. Indeed in 2004 Vodafone commissioned its own cable, aware of the limitations posed by just one connection and the ever-increasing demand for more internet-based services.
By the end of this year Go is expected to commission its second cable and Melita Cable will have its first one, both connected to Sicily. The decision to have these last two cables was taken many months ago and the incident of August 6 seems to have vindicated the decision.
Although there are wireless technologies such as microwave and satellite links as an alternative to fixed-line links, cables generally can carry more capacity and are also accepted as providing better quality of service. The International Cable Protection Committee, an association of 86 submarine cable operators, says more than 95 per cent of voice and data traffic is carried by such cables and the rest by satellite.
"The existence of more than one such cable ensures that enterprises that need to ensure continuity of service have the possibility of contracting with more than one supplier. Notwithstanding this, the appropriate way to address the issue is by ensuring sufficient redundancy and resiliency in the network," added the MCA spokesman.
Redundancy and resilience, though crucial, need the backing of all the local communications operators.
"In the past years there were discussions between Go and Vodafone to provide mutual resiliency. But these discussions have led to nowhere," revealed Go's head of communications.
"With the decision taken by Go's board of directors last year and which was announced last January to invest in our own second submarine cable to Sicily, which will have a totally different landing route and we will be utilising a different provider - Interoute - Go will be the only telecoms provider in Malta to have two submarine cables to mainland Europe.
This project, which is estimated to be completed by the end of the year, is of national importance and will provide resiliency and backup in such instances."
Although the MCA and other communications providers said they are not aware of reports of long-term negative consequences for business in Malta as a result of the blackout, the event did leave its mark.
Melita Cable, which provides access to almost half of the country's high-speed internet subscribers, said its immediate action on August 6 prevented its voice service and internet broadband service customers from suffering long hours of downtime, as it was able to switch its connectivity provider in no time, causing practically no disruption to its clients.
"Following the incident, Melita's corporate services department received a number of enquiries and direct orders for main and redundancy services on broadband and telephony, mainly from major banking institutions, ITC companies and i-gaming companies," according to Stephen Wright, chief operations officer at the communications company.
In 2004 Vodafone Malta became the first private communications provider in Malta to launch its own submarine cable to Sicily, in reply to ever-increasing demands for internet services by the burgeoning i-gaming and ICT sector. It wasn't easy.
"Vodafone had to face very difficult obstacles ranging from lack of experience on the island to ongoing political issues abroad. This is because building an international gateway is quite a vast and complex project," recalled Albert Zerafa, gateway and roaming manager at the company. "But, through proper planning, Vodafone finished this project in only 11 months."
While Go and Melita Cable continue to work on the launch of their submarine cables, to bring the total to four, the MCA is responding to the wave of negative feedback from the victims of the outage on August 6.
"The MCA envisages two parallel actions. In the short term, the MCA will continue to very strongly advise all operators to, on a voluntary basis, provide increased resilience in international connectivity by purchasing capacity from each other. If necessary, the MCA will broker such an agreement. Secondly, the MCA is currently reviewing the legal framework to ensure that it can mandate certain contingency actions that need to be taken," the authority spokesman confirmed.
In the meantime several internet users have vented their frustration on timesofmalta.com. While some of them blamed
Go, others gave a more balanced view on the strengths and weaknesses of the current Maltese internet set-up. Others have clamoured for compensation for the loss of access experienced for a whole day.
"There are a number of options which Go is actively considering," the company's head of communications reassured.