The performance of broadband services in Malta has improved when compared to last year’s performance and is today better than the EU average in a number of key performance indicators, according to a report published by the European Commission.

However, Malta’s latency is the highest in the EU and although the Malta Communications Authority queried the findings, the report insists the findings are valid.

While speed indicates how fast data travels in the network, packet loss is an indication of how much of that data is lost over the network, the MCA explained. Networks sporting high speeds with low packet losses indicate high performance. On the other hand, latency is a measure of delay in communication, the result of the distance between the two network points in communication.

The three indicators combined are important factors to consider for applications requiring high speed and real time response, such as high quality video services and applications related to financial services.

With regard to packet loss, Malta registered an exceptionally low figure when compared to other countries.

“This is a clear indication that local service providers are offering services over highly robust and efficient networks,” the MCA said.

However, the report also found that broadband services in Malta are subject to more latency than those in other member states.

“The MCA considers that this finding is likely to have been significantly influenced by the location of the server against which latency was measured. In this case, the closest server to Malta was located in Italy as opposed to a number of the other countries which had such a server located on home grounds,” the authority said.

However, the possibility of a bias was taken into consideration in the report, which concluded:

“Spain’s latency for cable technology is above average to a similar degree as Malta and Iceland, suggesting that even if there is some upward bias, it is generally likely to be within the range of regular, nonbiased observations.

“Thus, with little or no explanatory power, there is not a risk of omitted variable bias and the study’s results will still be valid.”

When comparing the average speed performance against the advertised speed, the score obtained by the Maltese ISPs was above the EU average.

This comparison for upload speeds, at times, exceeds the 100 per cent mark, meaning that local ISPs are performing better than the average EU member state in terms of fulfilling their promised speeds in their adverts.

Furthermore, there are instances in which the actual speed obtained by the subscriber, is higher than the advertised speed.

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