'Steady as she goes' attitude with broadband internet
Maltese internet service providers (ISP) have fended off the results of recent international surveys on the quality of broadband access services in the Maltese Islands, insisting they are doing the utmost to provide the best possible service. A few...
Maltese internet service providers (ISP) have fended off the results of recent international surveys on the quality of broadband access services in the Maltese Islands, insisting they are doing the utmost to provide the best possible service.
A few weeks ago i-Tech reported how an international study among 42 countries around the world ranked Malta just 36th in terms of high-speed internet access (broadband) quality, scoring worse than most EU countries, including countries that joined the bloc along with Malta in 2004. Conducted by the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, the University of Oviedo and sponsored by Cisco, the survey also revealed that broadband in Malta is not quite ready to serve the new wave of internet-based services.
Furthermore, last week this newspaper reported that a new study by the European Commission confirmed that Malta's broadband penetration rate is slightly below the EU average and it needs to catch up in terms of quality and price.
"The results fail to illustrate the diversity of broadband offerings that are available in Malta," a spokesman for the Ministry for Infrastructure, Communications and Technology (MITC) said in reaction to the results of the surveys. "In the last year, the consumer market has witnessed the launch of various broadband offers, some of which are above the thresholds indicated by the survey as the speed needed for tomorrow's applications."
It also cited other EU surveys which ranked Malta high among EU member states in terms of use and service offerings related to broadband internet, especially for the business sector.
However, the ministry admitted: "The geographic location of Malta and the size of the market present a number of challenges and have a key impact on the level of investment and its return."
The Maltese broadband providers also took exception at the results of the study by the two universities.
A Go spokesman said: "The information available is too high level to carry out any serious consideration of the results. So we are not in a position to agree or otherwise especially since there is no detailed analysis of the breakdown for Malta. Moreover, the Malta data is based on online tests via the closest server in Reggio Calabria, which is not necessarily that adequate. Because most of our traffic comes from outside Malta, for example YouTube, which is not hosted in Malta, this is a major variable in offering good quality broadband in Malta. We conduct customer satisfaction surveys regularly and the results show that the big majority of our customers are very happy with the quality of our services."
Melita reassured it constantly monitors its network to ensure that customers experience the best and fastest broadband service on the island. Moreover, it participates in a continuous online assessment of internet performance operated by the Malta Communications Authority (MCA).
"Certain other ISPs have so far refused to submit their broadband service for public scrutiny," the communications provider added.
On the other hand, Vodafone Malta said it had identified the issue of quality about two years ago and felt it could provide for the gap in quality of broadband in Malta and hence launch its own home and mobile broadband services which are becoming "very popular".
"We feel that ISPs need to have sufficient capacity to offer broadband speeds equal to 75 per cent of what is advertised," added a spokesman for the company.
Indeed, Maltese broadband users need to pay attention to the small print when buying their broadband internet service. Last June Go and Melita announced significant increases in speed and download limits for their respective ADSL and cable broadband packages. Some users may have understood that this would also apply to them and not just to new users getting the service for the first time. In some instances this was not the case.
The new higher speeds announced by Go last June had to be implemented gradually to the thousands of existing ADSL users, and such speeds entailed a major upgrade in Go's infrastructure. Therefore, ADSL users could not immediately benefit from the announced doubling in speed unless their telephone had been upgraded.
"This is an ongoing project and entails the upgrading of all exchanges to ADSL2 + technology which supports speeds up to 24Mbps," the Go spokesman confirmed. "Speed between your house and your service provider is important, but our philosophy is that this alone really does not guarantee quality, especially given the fact that the vast majority of subscribers today do not require these speeds."
The Maltese broadband market is in constant fluctuation and growth. Vodafone Malta, which offers wireless broadband access through WiMax and 3G mobile communication technologies, said the market has become competitive since it started offering broadband services. Customers are being provided with free installation, no equipment deposit or activation fee and entry level packages start at 2MBs speeds, the company added.
Two other wireless broadband services, based on WiMax technology, are expected to be launched soon after getting a license from the MCA.
Furthermore, Malta's internet link to the rest of the world will be strengthened with the launch of another two submarine data cables, by Go and Melita, and there is a possibility of having even more, hopefully avoiding a repetition of the one-day blackout experienced last August.
The Maltese government is also looking at other areas to improve the quality of broadband services. One area that is being considered is next generation networks, in particular fibre to the home technology. The latter is being evaluated because fibre is considered to be essential to support future applications such as multimedia entertainment, highly interactive health care and education services, high-quality video file sharing and streaming, and high-definition IPTV, among others. Numerous countries have already deployed fibre networks and a green paper on the subject was published last July inviting stakeholders to give their feedback on deployment models that could be explored for Malta.
Maltese broadband users who want to check the status and quality of their broadband connection can go to the MCA's testing facility at www.nethealth.net.mt. They can also ask their ISP for a line test on their ADSL connection to check the maximum speed it can support.
A few weeks ago i-Tech reported how an international study among 42 countries around the world ranked Malta just 36th in terms of high-speed internet access (broadband) quality, scoring worse than most EU countries, including countries that joined the bloc along with Malta in 2004. Conducted by the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford, the University of Oviedo and sponsored by Cisco, the survey also revealed that broadband in Malta is not quite ready to serve the new wave of internet-based services.
Furthermore, last week this newspaper reported that a new study by the European Commission confirmed that Malta's broadband penetration rate is slightly below the EU average and it needs to catch up in terms of quality and price.
"The results fail to illustrate the diversity of broadband offerings that are available in Malta," a spokesman for the Ministry for Infrastructure, Communications and Technology (MITC) said in reaction to the results of the surveys. "In the last year, the consumer market has witnessed the launch of various broadband offers, some of which are above the thresholds indicated by the survey as the speed needed for tomorrow's applications."
It also cited other EU surveys which ranked Malta high among EU member states in terms of use and service offerings related to broadband internet, especially for the business sector.
However, the ministry admitted: "The geographic location of Malta and the size of the market present a number of challenges and have a key impact on the level of investment and its return."
The Maltese broadband providers also took exception at the results of the study by the two universities.
A Go spokesman said: "The information available is too high level to carry out any serious consideration of the results. So we are not in a position to agree or otherwise especially since there is no detailed analysis of the breakdown for Malta. Moreover, the Malta data is based on online tests via the closest server in Reggio Calabria, which is not necessarily that adequate. Because most of our traffic comes from outside Malta, for example YouTube, which is not hosted in Malta, this is a major variable in offering good quality broadband in Malta. We conduct customer satisfaction surveys regularly and the results show that the big majority of our customers are very happy with the quality of our services."
Melita reassured it constantly monitors its network to ensure that customers experience the best and fastest broadband service on the island. Moreover, it participates in a continuous online assessment of internet performance operated by the Malta Communications Authority (MCA).
"Certain other ISPs have so far refused to submit their broadband service for public scrutiny," the communications provider added.
On the other hand, Vodafone Malta said it had identified the issue of quality about two years ago and felt it could provide for the gap in quality of broadband in Malta and hence launch its own home and mobile broadband services which are becoming "very popular".
"We feel that ISPs need to have sufficient capacity to offer broadband speeds equal to 75 per cent of what is advertised," added a spokesman for the company.
Indeed, Maltese broadband users need to pay attention to the small print when buying their broadband internet service. Last June Go and Melita announced significant increases in speed and download limits for their respective ADSL and cable broadband packages. Some users may have understood that this would also apply to them and not just to new users getting the service for the first time. In some instances this was not the case.
The new higher speeds announced by Go last June had to be implemented gradually to the thousands of existing ADSL users, and such speeds entailed a major upgrade in Go's infrastructure. Therefore, ADSL users could not immediately benefit from the announced doubling in speed unless their telephone had been upgraded.
"This is an ongoing project and entails the upgrading of all exchanges to ADSL2 + technology which supports speeds up to 24Mbps," the Go spokesman confirmed. "Speed between your house and your service provider is important, but our philosophy is that this alone really does not guarantee quality, especially given the fact that the vast majority of subscribers today do not require these speeds."
The Maltese broadband market is in constant fluctuation and growth. Vodafone Malta, which offers wireless broadband access through WiMax and 3G mobile communication technologies, said the market has become competitive since it started offering broadband services. Customers are being provided with free installation, no equipment deposit or activation fee and entry level packages start at 2MBs speeds, the company added.
Two other wireless broadband services, based on WiMax technology, are expected to be launched soon after getting a license from the MCA.
Furthermore, Malta's internet link to the rest of the world will be strengthened with the launch of another two submarine data cables, by Go and Melita, and there is a possibility of having even more, hopefully avoiding a repetition of the one-day blackout experienced last August.
The Maltese government is also looking at other areas to improve the quality of broadband services. One area that is being considered is next generation networks, in particular fibre to the home technology. The latter is being evaluated because fibre is considered to be essential to support future applications such as multimedia entertainment, highly interactive health care and education services, high-quality video file sharing and streaming, and high-definition IPTV, among others. Numerous countries have already deployed fibre networks and a green paper on the subject was published last July inviting stakeholders to give their feedback on deployment models that could be explored for Malta.
Maltese broadband users who want to check the status and quality of their broadband connection can go to the MCA's testing facility at www.nethealth.net.mt. They can also ask their ISP for a line test on their ADSL connection to check the maximum speed it can support.