GO said this evening that it had fully restored Internet bandwidth connectivity via its new, second submarine fibre-optic cable between St Paul's Bay and Mazara Del Vallo in Sicily. The cable is linked to the pan-European network of Interoute. As a result, GO has activated a total IP bandwidth throughput of 2.5GB.

The company has maintained the bandwidth offered via Vodafone's cable and will be continue monitoring the situation in the next hours and days.

"Work on the company's second cable was expedited so as to considerably improve the broadband service which was available following the fault which developed in the GO-Telecom Italia cable," GO said. The new cable was due to be commissioned next month.

The cable-laying works on GO's second cable started on 26 November at St Paul's Bay.

GO Chief Executive Officer David Kay said: "I thank our employees for their dedication and our customers for their support during this difficult period. We have managed to activate our second submarine cable link in record time in order to give all our customers the level of service they expect."

He also thanked Vodafone for its collaboration in implementing the contingency agreement in place between the two companies following the fault in the first cable.

Speaking about the repairs of the GO-Telecom Italia cable, Mr Kay said that the same ship which laid GO's second cable, Elettra's Teliri, is in the process of starting the repair of the cable, together with other cables that have been severed in the Mediterranean area.

Mr Kay reiterated the company's apologies for any inconveniences caused due to this unfortunate incident.