Enemalta is hoping to be able to generate revenue from the fibre optic cables in the interconnector – but it has as yet no idea how much this could be.
It has issued an international call for expressions of interest and is waiting to see what companies propose.
“We have tried to calculate how much revenue this could generate but to be honest, the numbers are meaningless at this stage as we have no idea what will emerge,” said executive director Saviour Baldacchino.
The interconnector cable contains two separate fibre optic clusters, each with 36 fibres. One of these is an integral part of the interconnector, monitoring it round the clock with regard to temperature, data flow and even damage. However, the second cluster came more or less ‘free’ as it represented minimal cost compared to the €200 million cost of laying the cable and the cable itself.
“This is the first fibre optic cable that does not belong to a telecommunications company,” Baldacchino said, referring to the existing cables belonging to Go, Vodafone and Melita.
“There may be companies that do not want to share a cable with a communications company, or even telecommunications companies that want resilience without having to rely on a competitor.
“The fibre optics might be of interest to a data centre in Malta or they could attract a company that wants to base its servers here. It could be of interest to gaming companies or banks. It could be used to provide bandwidth or to carry data itself and it is much, much faster than satellite. Each of the fibres in the cluster can handle virtually limitless amounts of data,” Baldacchino said.
The fibres are not connected at either Malta or Ragusa, giving eventual operators complete flexibility when it comes to deciding how to use them as this is determined by the type of terminal connector. Enemalta is looking for 20-year proposals but it is being very flexible, willing to consider any suitable proposals. It is able to sign up several companies, given that the capacity and the fee structure could also be either fixed or based on percentage of revenue.
The interconnector cable, a Nexans of Norway project, is one of the longest of its kind in the world. Around 100km is subsea, while the remaining 20km are buried in secondary roads.
The risk of accidental damage has been reduced in a variety of ways, depending on its location. Apart from the fact that the cable itself is heavily armoured, most of it lies in a purpose-built, one-metre-deep trench and will gradually be completely covered by natural forces.
For two kilometres from shore, it is protected by cast iron shells, and where it has to lie outside the trench – because of posidonia fields or seabed geology – it is also encased in stone or metal.
The cable can handle 230kV electricity flow in both directions, representing 200MW of power.
Enemalta also opted for two terminal stations – one in Malta and one in Ragusa – complete with switchgear, transformers and shunt reactors. The project is currently at testing phase and should be commissioned in the first half of 2015.
The closing date for receipt of expressions of interest is February 27. Further information may be obtained from procurement.em@enemalta.com.mt.
www.enemalta.com.mt/powerfibrelink