Although fast internet broadband access in Malta is perceived as being of lower quality and more expensive than other European countries, the Maltese are not getting a raw deal.
This is confirmed by the report “Quality of Broadband Services in the EU” covering 30 EU member states and other European countries, taken from a sample of around 9,000 users, 131 of them based in Malta, who volunteered to attached a small box to their home connection.
The data was gathered in March 2012, but the report has been published just now, and covers xDSL, cable internet technology and ultra fast fibre-based access services. Mobile broadband was not included.
Maltese participants had ADSL and cable internet connections.
The reports reveals that European consumers are not getting the broadband download speeds they pay for. On average, they receive only 74 per cent of the advertised headline speed paid for. However, Maltese users get a better deal, for they get 95.4 per cent of advertised speeds for cable and 86 per cent for xDSL, well above the European average for both.
Even in terms of upload speeds, the Maltese almost get the full 100 per cent as advertised, compared to the European’s 88 per cent. But on the flipside, Maltese users can only avail themselves of low upload speeds during peak periods, well below the European average for cable (1.32 compared to 3.34 Mbps) and just below this average for xDSL (0.59 compared to 0.71 Mbps).
Average peak (evening) download speed, perhaps the most important metric sought by users, is a mixed performer for the Maltese. xDSL is slightly above the European average of 7.23 Mbps but cable is significantly lower, at 21.56 Mbps, than the 35.1 Mbps European average. If these are compared to the European average for all technologies put together (19.47 Mbps), the tables are turned, with xDSL in Malta coming well below average and cable slightly above average. The download speed average takes into account very high-speed fiber internet access in European countries which was not part of the sample in Malta.
Malta has the highest packet loss for xDSL (but below average for cable) and is in the top three spots for latency for both xDSL and cable among the 30 countries in the sample. Latency also affects real-time communications like VoIP and Malta has one of the highest jitter values – the third highest – well above the European average.
The report says latency “is an important metric that is often overlooked by consumers”. It is the measure of how long a single packet of data takes to go from point A to point B and back again.
In this study, round-trip latency is measured between the participants’ homes and the nearest measurement server. Average xDSL latencies were almost double those of cable and fibre services. The report said that with measurement servers not running in Cyprus, Malta and Iceland, it is not surprising that these islands see noticeably higher figures than other countries (as a key factor in latency is distance).
The report also measures packet loss, which, like latency, is often overlooked when consumers are considering broadband products. This metric describes how many packets are lost as they traverse the path between the home and the computer they are communicating with. When packets are lost, the two parties involved in the communication will typically retransmit data in order to account for the loss. This takes time and when it reaches a certain level it will become very noticeable to users.
While packet loss is observed as very low in most countries, Italy, Malta and Portugal are singled out as exceptions. Packet loss for xDSL is explained as being higher than for cable because the former uses old copper lines which are more likely to suffer physical faults and defects.
In terms of web browsing speeds in Malta, tested as the amount of time a page from a website like Facebook, Google and YouTube takes to load, xDSL is below the European average while cable is significantly above average.
This is the first study on broadband performance that covers all EU member states, including Croatia which has just joined the EU, as well as Norway and Iceland, using the same approach.
The project is being run by broadband performance testing specialist, SamKnows, which has already conducted similar projects in the UK and the US.
This study will run until end 2014 and two more annual measurements are planned.
Since the acquisition of data in March 2012 the broadband market in Malta and indeed across the EU has continued to develop. Just a few weeks ago Melita launched a 250 Mbps service while Go has continued to expand its Rapido fibre-based service which had not yet been launched in March last year when the survey was carried out.
The latest scoreboard report of broadband internet access in Malta, published a few weeks ago as part of the EU’s Digital Agenda initiative, revealed that the country is making available high-speed broadband internet access but few are making use of it.