I would like to put one thing straight. Unfortunately the poor hosting infrastructure in Malta is a common misconception and was a fair comment some years back as connectivity was limited to two submarine cables (one Vodafone and one GO), but Malta has made significant improvements in this respect in the last four or five years. In fact we now have four cables (another from GO and one from Melita) connecting us to the European backbone and at different connecting points, making us far more resilient.

Another important factor that might have been a cause of concern in the past was the source of upstream bandwidth. Today, upstream bandwidth is supplied through leading providers including Interoute, Cable & Wireless, Telecom Italia and Level 3, all of which provide high-quality bandwidth. Last year the various telecommunications companies signed a mutual agreement and are connected together, offering greater redundancy.

Malta is today the largest i-gaming jurisdiction in the world, hosting literally hundreds of customers, including a number of live casinos where response time is extremely critical, and cannot afford to suffer any latency or bandwidth quality issues.

Other aspects related to infrastructure that are also worth mentioning are electricity and telephony in general. On the electricity front we are fortunate, due to our location in the industrial area of the island, to enjoy in excess of 99.9 per cent up-time per year. Furthermore, a new submarine cable to Sicily will shortly be commissioned, and once this is in place the country will be able to buy power from other providers on the European grid rather than just depending on our two local power stations. This, along with a switch to natural gas for local power generation, promises substantially reduced power rates for businesses in the near future.

Telephony, both mobile and fixed line, is very well developed. There are three large providers competing in the field and Malta now boasts one of the highest mobile penetration rates per capita in the world. Coverage is excellent due to the compactness of the islands, and the overall service is very good and cost-effective.

The state-of-the-art infrastructure, coupled with other significant advantages, make Malta a truly complete ICT destination.

James Bonello is the managing director at Crimsonwing.

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