Update 1: GO submarine cable develops fault - broadband services affected

(Adds location of fault, GO talking to Vodafone on securing international capacity)

GO's undersea fibre-optic cable to Sicily developed a fault this evening, severing overseas links for thousands of internet users. The fault, which engineers located underwater, is the second in four months following a fault on land in Sicily in August.

It took place just weeks before the GO Group is due to commission a second international gateway.

The breakdown developed at 6.30 p.m. and has affected broadband services.

GO plc said voice traffic was restored within a short time using a microwave link.

The fault was located underwater at a spot identified at 120km of cable off Catania (The cable does not run in a straight line). The cause of the damage was not immediately known.

"GO has initiated action to rectify the fault via internationally contracted parties, specifically pre-assigned over the years to intervene in such circumstances," a spokesman said.

"GO is also liaising with Vodafone (which operates Malta's only other international gateway) for utilisation of its international link as a contingency measure."

The company apologised for the inconvenience caused. The spokesman was not in a position to say when full services would be resumed.

The Malta Communications Authority said that GO had confirmed that the fault was found to be underwater, in its international connectivity link.

GO (then Telemalta) was the first telecommunications company in Malta to set up an international submarine cable link to Sicily in 1995. That 245km cable - the same one which has developed the fault - is linked to the network of Italian provider Telecom Italia. It originates from St George's Bay and lands in Catania.