The prompt and concerted national response to the fault on Go's submarine data cable linking Malta to Sicily on December 18 is being considered in some quarters as a blessing in disguise, i-Tech can reveal.
Indeed, the Maltese communication providers have shown that Malta is ready to face such challenges unlike other countries which remained without communication services for a much longer period when southern Europe's internet links with the Middle East were severed on that day.
"The Malta Communication Authority is very satisfied with the way Go and Vodafone collaborated on December 18 as Vodafone immediately responded to Go's request for additional bandwidth. Also MCA notes with satisfaction on how Go implemented its contingency plans to deal with the emergency," a spokesman for the authority told i-Tech.
Go has worked closely with Vodafone to implement an agreement between the two companies which saw the adoption of a "contingency agreement" in view of the fault that developed on the Go-Telecom Italia international submarine fibre-optic cable. As a result, Go obtained backup bandwidth capacity from Vodafone. Such an agreement had the support of the MCA, which was kept informed of all developments throughout the outage.
"Go thanks both Vodafone and the MCA for their support," a spokesman for Go told i-Tech. "Since only Go and Vodafone own and operate Malta's submarine fibre-optic cables, the agreement was the result of ongoing process which took place over the past months to provide mutual international connectivity backup, and which had the support of the MCA. The MCA had asked operators for their respective contingency plans and not for any inter operator agreement in particular."
"The situation was handled in the way that it should be handled," confirmed a Vodafone spokesman.
The fault registered on December 18 was the second one on Go's submarine cable that was launched in the mid-1990s and was the only Maltese internet link to the rest of the world until Vodafone launched its own cable in 2004.
Go could not disclose to i-Tech the exact cause of the fault, which also hit other submarine data cables in the Mediterranean, and there are still a number of theories on ranging from seismic activity to a ship anchor causing the damages.
Another fault on the same cable on August 6, located in Sicily and totally beyond Go's responsibility, led to the total disruption of communication and internet services for thousands of users, for a much longer period of time that on December 18 when the contingency plan was implemented.
Soon after August's blackout the MCA started a process to introduce new regulations to cover such emergencies. One of the initiatives taken was to ask the communication providers operating a submarine cable to submit a contingency plan.
The course of action taken on December 18 was in line with the contingency plan submitted by Go to the MCA just a few weeks before December's incident. The operators knew they could not afford a repetition of August 6.
"The co-operation reached between Go and Vodafone has been a result of actions taken by all parties involved," confirmed the MCA spokesman. "It is up to Go to establish how other infrastructure not owned by Go will feature in its contingency plan. The MCA will audit these plans to ensure that a minimum level of redundancy is provided and will continue to encourage the provision of appropriate levels of support from other operators as may be necessary."
Vodafone highlighted the operator's own spirit of initiative.
"The collaboration between Vodafone and Go happened naturally and without the need to push for regulatory intervention. Both operators recognised the importance of collaboration and reaching agreement on this type of situation. The MCA was kept in the loop as to the developments on this front."
However, the new regulations to govern communication providers and authorities during period of such emergencies have not yet been put in place.
Vodafone says that while it provided support to Go, its clients were not affected as the agreement was based on spare capacity that Vodafone had allocated for similar situations. However the company added it will be exploring its cable in the vicinity of Go cable's failure as a precautionary measure and in case it would find a problem it would communicate it accordingly, insisting however its cable is working perfectly.
With the full commissioning in record time of Go's new, second cable to Sicily via Interoute's network on December 23, 2008, a couple of months ahead of schedule, Go's broadband capabilities were fully restored as they were prior to December 18.
Go's plan is that by means of its two cables, the operator will be able to cater for the continuously increasing IP (internet protocol) bandwidth demand of the country. However it has not given any specific dates on when the faulty cable will be fully operational again.
"This project is of national importance and will provide resiliency and backup in such instances," the company spokesman added.
Both Go and Vodafone have confirmed with i-Tech that their agreement to provide mutual redundancy covers future incidents, even after Go has both its submarine cables operational.
Vodafone have also confirmed that it is still considering the possibility of installing its second submarine cable.
In the meantime Melita is forging ahead with plans to launch its own submarine data cable to Sicily later on this year, bringing the total of international links for Malta up to four. Then it is expected to submit its own contingency plan to the MCA.
The positive way the problem was tackled on December 18 has led at least one network operator to believe that the way the emergency was handled should be exploited in Malta's favour.
"Unfortunately such incidents do happen. However, Malta is well prepared to face these challenges. Proof of this is the actions and subsequently the results taken last month," added the Vodafone spokesman. "Other countries suffered from long periods of being cut out with no communication at all whilst we did not. We should make this very public to all the companies that are looking at Malta as a possible destination for their business location. The industry, the government and the media need to work together to make this very visible to the international market, rather that publicizing non productive quarrels between different parties. There needs to be a clear sense of unity on these issues to promote Malta as an ICT destination."
This makes a lot of sense when in an article on New Scientist published this week the Mediterranean was described as the "Achilles heel of the web".
In the meantime the MCA expressed its confidence that the spirit of cooperation that prevailed between the operators will continue to prevail should a similar incident occur.
Indeed, the Maltese communication providers have shown that Malta is ready to face such challenges unlike other countries which remained without communication services for a much longer period when southern Europe's internet links with the Middle East were severed on that day.
"The Malta Communication Authority is very satisfied with the way Go and Vodafone collaborated on December 18 as Vodafone immediately responded to Go's request for additional bandwidth. Also MCA notes with satisfaction on how Go implemented its contingency plans to deal with the emergency," a spokesman for the authority told i-Tech.
Go has worked closely with Vodafone to implement an agreement between the two companies which saw the adoption of a "contingency agreement" in view of the fault that developed on the Go-Telecom Italia international submarine fibre-optic cable. As a result, Go obtained backup bandwidth capacity from Vodafone. Such an agreement had the support of the MCA, which was kept informed of all developments throughout the outage.
"Go thanks both Vodafone and the MCA for their support," a spokesman for Go told i-Tech. "Since only Go and Vodafone own and operate Malta's submarine fibre-optic cables, the agreement was the result of ongoing process which took place over the past months to provide mutual international connectivity backup, and which had the support of the MCA. The MCA had asked operators for their respective contingency plans and not for any inter operator agreement in particular."
"The situation was handled in the way that it should be handled," confirmed a Vodafone spokesman.
The fault registered on December 18 was the second one on Go's submarine cable that was launched in the mid-1990s and was the only Maltese internet link to the rest of the world until Vodafone launched its own cable in 2004.
Go could not disclose to i-Tech the exact cause of the fault, which also hit other submarine data cables in the Mediterranean, and there are still a number of theories on ranging from seismic activity to a ship anchor causing the damages.
Another fault on the same cable on August 6, located in Sicily and totally beyond Go's responsibility, led to the total disruption of communication and internet services for thousands of users, for a much longer period of time that on December 18 when the contingency plan was implemented.
Soon after August's blackout the MCA started a process to introduce new regulations to cover such emergencies. One of the initiatives taken was to ask the communication providers operating a submarine cable to submit a contingency plan.
The course of action taken on December 18 was in line with the contingency plan submitted by Go to the MCA just a few weeks before December's incident. The operators knew they could not afford a repetition of August 6.
"The co-operation reached between Go and Vodafone has been a result of actions taken by all parties involved," confirmed the MCA spokesman. "It is up to Go to establish how other infrastructure not owned by Go will feature in its contingency plan. The MCA will audit these plans to ensure that a minimum level of redundancy is provided and will continue to encourage the provision of appropriate levels of support from other operators as may be necessary."
Vodafone highlighted the operator's own spirit of initiative.
"The collaboration between Vodafone and Go happened naturally and without the need to push for regulatory intervention. Both operators recognised the importance of collaboration and reaching agreement on this type of situation. The MCA was kept in the loop as to the developments on this front."
However, the new regulations to govern communication providers and authorities during period of such emergencies have not yet been put in place.
Vodafone says that while it provided support to Go, its clients were not affected as the agreement was based on spare capacity that Vodafone had allocated for similar situations. However the company added it will be exploring its cable in the vicinity of Go cable's failure as a precautionary measure and in case it would find a problem it would communicate it accordingly, insisting however its cable is working perfectly.
With the full commissioning in record time of Go's new, second cable to Sicily via Interoute's network on December 23, 2008, a couple of months ahead of schedule, Go's broadband capabilities were fully restored as they were prior to December 18.
Go's plan is that by means of its two cables, the operator will be able to cater for the continuously increasing IP (internet protocol) bandwidth demand of the country. However it has not given any specific dates on when the faulty cable will be fully operational again.
"This project is of national importance and will provide resiliency and backup in such instances," the company spokesman added.
Both Go and Vodafone have confirmed with i-Tech that their agreement to provide mutual redundancy covers future incidents, even after Go has both its submarine cables operational.
Vodafone have also confirmed that it is still considering the possibility of installing its second submarine cable.
In the meantime Melita is forging ahead with plans to launch its own submarine data cable to Sicily later on this year, bringing the total of international links for Malta up to four. Then it is expected to submit its own contingency plan to the MCA.
The positive way the problem was tackled on December 18 has led at least one network operator to believe that the way the emergency was handled should be exploited in Malta's favour.
"Unfortunately such incidents do happen. However, Malta is well prepared to face these challenges. Proof of this is the actions and subsequently the results taken last month," added the Vodafone spokesman. "Other countries suffered from long periods of being cut out with no communication at all whilst we did not. We should make this very public to all the companies that are looking at Malta as a possible destination for their business location. The industry, the government and the media need to work together to make this very visible to the international market, rather that publicizing non productive quarrels between different parties. There needs to be a clear sense of unity on these issues to promote Malta as an ICT destination."
This makes a lot of sense when in an article on New Scientist published this week the Mediterranean was described as the "Achilles heel of the web".
In the meantime the MCA expressed its confidence that the spirit of cooperation that prevailed between the operators will continue to prevail should a similar incident occur.