GO plc today apologised for the failure of a submarine cable which yesterday left thousands of internet users without access to overseas sites. The failure was caused by third-parties in Sicily.

“We apologise to the Maltese public for this incident which left many without broadband-related services, international voice traffic, and roaming. It was the first time that such an extensive outage occurred in these many years that the cable has been in place,” group chairman Sonny Portelli said.

“This incident confirms the strategic importance of the decision taken by the company’s board of directors and which was announced in January of this year to invest in our own second submarine cable to Sicily which will have a totally different landing route and we will be utilising a different provider - Interoute. This project, which is estimated to be completed by the end of the year, is of national importance and will provide resiliency and backup in such instances.

“As a result, GO will be the only telecoms provider in Malta to have two submarine cables to mainland Europe, and our cables will constitute 50 per cent of the four cables mentioned by the government which should be up and running by 2010.”

On behalf of the company, Mr Portelli thanked all GO personnel who yesterday were involved in restoring all services back to normal.

The comments were made when Mr Portelli, GO CEO David Kay and Valletta Mayor Alexiei Dingli officially inaugurated the revamped GO outlet in South Street, Valletta.

Mr Portelli said the outlet showcased the company’s commitment to deliver top-quality service to its customers.

“We have seen how the first quad-play retail outlet in Birkirkara has been a major success. Likewise, we want to extend this quad-play experience to many more outlets in the coming months.”