That telecommunications is a main driver behind economic growth in Malta should come as no surprise to anyone. The importance of telecommunications to the economy is an often reiterated position by the government, opposition and different fractions of society alike.

Reference is often made to the number of jobs being created, the value added generated and the foreign direct investment that the industry leaves on bottom line GDP. Indeed this is all true and as the government is spearheading discussions on Vision 2015, telecommunications is yet again at the fulcrum of the growth debate, and so it goes.

But what are the opportunities for growth within the industry? What makes telecommunications an important generation of growth for the country? And how does the telecoms industry in Malta fare when compared to the rest of the European countries?

For economic growth to be sustained into the future the telecommunications industry needs to be growing as well. Over the past months the industry has gone from strength to strength in terms of innovative products being offered to the public, the quality of service, and enhancing the country’s communication net.

Competition has helped make the operating companies within the industry become more efficient in operations, service and delivery.

This is healthy transition not only for the customers but indeed for the operators themselves as they learned to increase their throughput whilst optimising on resource wastage.

This remarkable improvement needs to be sustained in order to guarantee future economic growth within the country. One may argue that the telecoms industry is now mature but the truth is that there is never a tipping point for further growth. What operating companies should be after now is to find new opportunities for further industry expansion. Rather than recycling and repackaging what is already there, opportunities for growth should focus on three main areas.

First, the exploitation of new business ventures and projects both locally and/or overseas. Second, in offering new and innovative solutions to satisfy increasing customer needs, and third, by stimulating the further penetration of telecommunication services within the Maltese community.

The key for economic growth is the continuous pursuit of new revenue streams and opportunities. The goal is to create new opportunities for expansion within the sector. As Malta is geographically located between two continents, there are strategic advantages to be reaped by Maltese operating companies especially in providing telecommunications consultancy and connectivity to nearby developing African countries.

Innovation should be the order of the day and telecommunications should be the motor for competitiveness and innovation. Yet though the basic telecommunications infrastructure and access to the internet are no longer barriers, our local SMEs still suffer from limited understanding of telecommunications and a limited budget for ICT investments. Here opportunities are varied in that telecoms companies must provide SMEs with better telecommunications solutions including those for marketing and sales which are still very uncommon.

Even though Malta is now emerging as one of the fastest growing telecommunications centres in the world, when it comes to mobile solutions penetration within households and the business community alike there is much further room for growth. Even though it’s a widespread belief that communication is a necessity and no longer a luxury, households and the business community need to be convinced further about this as they may not fully understand the benefits behind this. Mobile penetration in Malta is still relatively lower than other major European countries.

In particular, we need to enhance the telecommunications capability of the traditional business outlets by providing them with avant garde solutions for their business requirements. Telecommunication should serve as the backbone for the development of clusters within industrial and semi industrial areas such as the likes of mechanics, panel beaters and carpenters. Perhaps not the big firms and the most long established ones, but those which are artisans, innovative, and small. This is a vision which needs to be well enshrined in the telecoms companies’ strategy: The empowerment and faith in the customer.

While we cannot ignore the current challenges faced by the telecommunications industry, nor become complacent, we must also not lose sight of our strengths. I strongly believe that if confidence in our strengths falters, our willingness and ability to exploit these strengths and deal with those weaknesses will be lessened.

All this of course also brings with it some important policy implications. A solid legislative and regulatory framework should keep improving, and, very significantly, human resources are key characteristics to contribute to this growth in the industry. Although competitiveness is essentially an enterprise issue, its enhancement needs further government support, and this is especially so within the telecommunications industry.

Also, the new competitive environment requires a new type of entrepreneur, who will have to be more flexible and faster when taking decisions, more able to discern changes and to proactively adapt and adjust to such changes. Towards this end, the government should encourage new business attitudes, conducive towards flexibility and adaptation to change.

Government support to enhance the competitiveness atmosphere at the macro level and to create a congenial legal and administrative environment for competition is essential. Ultimately, the government’s policy of stimulating the country’s telecommunication capabilities by definition leads to a higher entrepreneurial activity which is one of the key target objectives of Vision 2015.

The author is business development manager of Vodafone Malta Ltd.