GO investing €100m in networks upgrade
Video: Mark Zammit Cordina
GO is planning to invest €100 million over a six-year period starting from this year as part of its technology roadmap which will see it launching next generation networks such as fibre-to-the-home, mobile network upgrades and investments in its tv infrastructure to cover new services and applications.
CEO David Kay said this afternoon that in addition, €7 million were invested in GO's TV infrastructure since GO started off its TVoperations in 2007, focused mainly on providing close to 100% DTTV coverage around Malta and Gozo, and the improved headend facilities. The company has over 53,000 TV subscribers.
The comments were made when Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi visited the GO head end facilities at Maghtab.
Mr Kay said GO has invested heavily in an upgraded sports playout facility and is now fully equipped for the exclusive transmission of the English Premier League and Italian Serie A due to kick off in August. GO will broadcast up to six simultaneous live events during every match day.
The Prime Minister was given a tour of GO's TV operations facilities at the Maghtab head end where he was given an explanation of the new high tech equipment at the upgraded sports playout facilities, as well as the renovation works carried out over the past months.
Dr Gonzi's visit marked the launch by GO of transmission of some of the latest sports channels it has acquired, namely Inter Channel, Juventus Channel and Roma Channel. Milan Channel will start broadcasts in the coming days.
During the visit, GO launched GO stars, a premium pay channel which carries movies of all genres, series and other entertainment programmes. All GO tv (Free, Silver and Gold) customers will have open viewing to GO stars for a period of one month.
Dr Gonzi thanked GO for its commitment to investment in its technology and infrastructure. ‘ Telecommunications is an important enabler for the economy and is pivotal for Malta to reach the Vision 2015 targets. The €100 million investment programme is a sign of confidence in Malta's potential and will further enhance Malta's investment attractiveness. The investment that GO has undertaken further confirms that liberalisation and privatisation processes have been important catalysts for investment,' Dr Gonzi said.
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Gianninu Saliba
Jul 30th 2010, 11:12
Investment keeps on coming. It's only Joseph and his moaning lot that say otherwise. This is not a Dirghin il-Maltin project. This project is a result of par idejn sodi. Yes, we are blessed, we have a Nationalist Government that encourages investment and creates opportunities for growth. Joseph, take note and start learning.
Len Muscat
Aug 2nd 2010, 09:21
X'ghandhom x'jaqsmu Joseph u Gonzi.... skuzi ta' , l-investimenti saru mil-GO li hija kumpanijja privata, b'investiment barrani privat u standards li mhux il-gvernijiet ghamluhom, imma is-serjeta ta min qed imexxi il-kumpanija. Gonzi u Joseph ikunu sempliciment mistiedna b'rispett ax huma min huma.
Peter Murray
Jul 30th 2010, 10:35
What about GO investing in a published telephone directory and delivering such to households-as they have persistently promised.
Francis Borg
Jul 30th 2010, 10:15
It is very heartening to see a well put together project for the distribution of TV/Radio on the island and I applaud the company for going for gold in terms of equipment partners. But do the figures add up? Let us say that Go will actually increase to 55000 subscribers in the next five years. At an average fee of say of €12 per subscriber, the turnover would be about €0.660m out of which salaries and overheads have to be met probably leaving a mere €60k for investment. With Melita trying to hold its place and Sky Malta about to come into the arena, the figures quoted for new investment (€100m) are not sustainable. On top of this, many will soon realise that by the end of this year true free TV will be available on the island using a rooftop aerial without having to pay a cent to GO for the main 6 channels as well as Italian stations when Sicily goes digital in 12 months time. I can only assume that a battle for a takeover and/or merger with other companies is in Plan B as the total market (130k households) is so limited for such meagre returns.
Chris Axiak
Jul 30th 2010, 12:33
Mr. Borg as you can read in the above statement, only a few thousands will be spent on TV infrastructure basically the upgrade on the TV service has already been conducted and the current DTTV service will remain as it is. The 100m will be invested into a new fibre optic network which would cover the whole island providing all the services through it. TV, Internet and Telephony through fibre hence replacing the current copper network which obvouisly has it's limitations such as the bandwith limit on an ADSL 2+ connection.
Anthony Farrugia
Jul 30th 2010, 10:06
Some people just don't get it or don't want to ! Both Melita and GO had bid for rights to transmit locally the Premier League, Serie A, Champions Leage with GO getting the Premier and Serie A whilst Melita got the Champions rights. As the GO chairman said on TVM News yesterday GO will NOT let go of their rights to anybody else as this is the result of their being the highest local bidders and a commercial decision to attract more subscribers. The same Melita will do for the Champions . I think David Agius MP was barking up the wrong tree when he stated that both providers should let go of their acquired rights so that viewers can watch all games. It seems that some viewers think that viewing all soccer games for free without changing providers is a right entrenced in the Constitution or the 11th Commandment. It is time they wake up to reality and realise that this is the age of competition.If they really want to watch all football games they have to subscribe to both providers and pay . The age of freeloading is over, dead and buried.
J.Camilleri
Jul 30th 2010, 09:36
X'mentalita bazwija ghall kull min ihallat il-politika antikwata maz-zminijiet tal-lum. Mohh marid ma' jfieq qatt u sfortunatament dal-pajjiz mifquh bl-injoranza grassa u b'hekk qatt ma' mxejna l-quddiem kif imxew pajjizi ohra ghax dejjem inwahhlu fl-imghoddi u ma' nipprovawx insibu soluzzjoni biex iktar nimxu l-quddiem minghajr xkiel. Move on ... grudges gets you nowhere.
albert leone ganado
Jul 30th 2010, 09:01
A new investment of 100 million is no small amount and is to be welcomed. However let us hope that this investment will not be recovered through the high charges which the long suffering maltese consumer is being forced to pay for communications services. It is not amiss to state that as consumers we pay much higher charges and get a poorer quality of service than the rest of europe for telephony , TV and the internet.
I trust that the Prime Minister did raise in a forceful manner and demanded a solution to the way us consumers and our consumer rights are being trampled when suddenly a sports channel which we had subscribed to is suddenly moved from one service provider to another with no compensation or redress indeed with the added hassle that one finds from changing providers. Some of the team sports channels launched in the Prime Ministers presence were channels whose enjoyment was stolen from us Melita subscribers
S. Attard
Jul 30th 2010, 00:55
La darba l-Go rebhu d-drittijiet esklussivi biex juru l-premier u s-serie A issa ghandhom l-obbligu li jassiguraw li s-servizz taghhom jinqabad minn kullimkien f'Malta u Ghawdex. L-Onorevoli David Agius u Edwin Vassallo ghandhom jinsistu dwar dan.
Jay Spearing
Jul 29th 2010, 23:42
Stars wkoll semmewh!? Ghadhom kemm hargu b'l-idea ta Stars ftit gimgha ilu il-Melita. Qed nara slide fuq il-kaxxa tieghi fuq channels 614 sa 617 tghid li ha jibdew f'Awwissu...naqa originalita GO! Anzi ma semmewhx Go More! :) Dega grat darb'ohra meta biddlu l-sports min Sports+ ghal Go Sports biex jigi bhal Melita Sports!
G Grech
Jul 29th 2010, 22:41
The thing is that the main capital investment at the place visited today by Gonzi & co was done when GO was still TeleMalta with direct government investment (our own taxes). And the land itself was public land which now has finished in Private hands....
Chris Axiak
Jul 30th 2010, 12:42
The land itself was bought from a farmer who owned a field there. Plus the most major investment conducted in the place our prime minister visited was conducted in the past 2 years when go took over. The telemalta system is long gone.
j.schembri
Jul 29th 2010, 22:12
wiehed jiehu gost jisma bl-izvillup ghax dan ifisser aktar xogol ghal maltin u servizz tajjeb. Imma ahna li n oqghodu fl-inhawi tal-Knisja ta' San Gejtanu u fit-toroq tal-madwar is-servizz huwa hazin hafna f'certi toroq. Ma tistax minn dawn il-milju i kollha il-go taghmel repeater sabiex taghtina servizz ahjar.
Charles Massa
Jul 29th 2010, 21:19
Nnhux hekk imissu jara Gonzi. Il lum biex tara l premier leagu trid thallas ghal go u biex tara champions league trid thallas li Melita. Dawn ghamlu kartel bejnithom. Meta se jiftemu biex thallas stazzjon wiehed u tara kollox. Jisolhu flus il poplu qieghdin u tinsewx il Go kienet kumpanija lu waqqaf mintoff
Mark Demicoli
Jul 29th 2010, 23:43
X'ghandu x'jaqsam Mintoff mar-rights tal-fooball, tista tajdli x'ghanda x'taqsam il-politika fir-rights, Mintoff qed imexxi il GO bhalissa, hu mar jixtri ir rights, u forsi ma xtarax tac-champions league ax nar ta Erbgha jkun irid johrog mid-dar? xejsew certu nies e
Neil McMurdo
Jul 30th 2010, 00:28
I believe Go are taking great steps in the market both behind the scenes and on the screen for the paying viewers, I am a keen admirer of the European Golf but i dont see either Melita or Go with the rights to the US PGA Tour, does GO plan on venturing into this market in the future with the big financial packages they are putting together.......There has to be an option to purchase there rights and it will just make GO stronger and stronger
Acachia
Jul 30th 2010, 08:11
For your information, Mintoff waqqaf it TELEMALTA.... u waqaf hemm.
Hemm bahar jaqsam bejn Telemalta u il GO tal-llum.
Charles Massa... nahseb ghadek imwahhal fis - seventies u eighties.
Anthony Farrugia
Jul 30th 2010, 10:15
Nahseb li Mintoff kien ha joqghod ihallas ghad-drittijiet ta Serie A, Premier u Champions meta lanqas bicca computer jew video-recorder ma kien ihalli tidhol Malta ! Televisions tal kulur kullhadd jafa lis-storja !
Darren Galea
Jul 29th 2010, 20:39
You mean I might actually get all 20Mbits I'm paying for (or was paying for, when I was with GO) despite living in Rabat?
If that's the case, Melita can dig a hole and never get out. The only reason I'm with them is because I get my full 20Mbits, but the overall connection leaves much to be desired.
oliver mallia
Jul 29th 2010, 19:45
Well done to Go PLC as usual
The large red wall that can be seen at GO PLC station in Maghtab from T Alla u Ommu, is a World War 1 airplane detector system (kind of radar) in a short time it will lose all it colours. Can Go PLC invest in some painting please?
Oliver Mallia Fondazjoni Ghal Harsien Wirt Industrijali
P. Aquilina
Jul 30th 2010, 03:14
oliver mallia - the Paint is the original paint which was used in 1937, that is why it has not been painted.
Ted Price
Jul 29th 2010, 19:43
Competition thats exactly what Malta needs, and the way i see it anything is better then Melita, they seem to be stuck in a loop hole, neither here nor there, no special offers lately, so i am opting to Go.
Eric Gahn
Jul 29th 2010, 19:16
Go Go.
Now how about someone getting the SciFi channel. Some of us (a lot actually) would not mind watching Star Trek (any series, season or movie) re-runs, Caprica, Eureka, Stargate (any series, season or movie), anything to do with robots and things happening a long time ago in a galaxies far far away, etc, etc........ Need I continue?
Mark Vella
Jul 29th 2010, 18:09
Well done Go, that is the way to Go....... The maltese people deserve a company like you, Good service with excellent customer care at very reasonable prices.
100 million Euro is quite a commitment to do for the next 6 years. Keep it up !!!!!
Jason Attard
Jul 29th 2010, 19:01
Yes, way to Go, go is great, go is free, it is a great company, I really like paying the bills at the end of the month, they are such great guys.
C Fenech
Jul 29th 2010, 17:40
Go stars?
Didn't Melita just launch some package called stars as well?
/facepalm in the face of originality