Maltese internet services providers (ISPs) are not yet bound by regulation to support each other in case of an emergency similar to the disruption experienced on August 6 which left thousands of home and business users without internet or communications services for several hours as a result of a fault on Go's submarine data cable.
However, local internet service providers have submitted their contingency plans for such an eventuality to the Malta Communications Authority (MCA), i-Tech can reveal.
Although Go was not to blame for the fault on its submarine cable which happened in Sicily, users were left wondering how much we have come to rely on internet access and taking it for granted when it is not.
At the time Malta had two submarine data cables connecting the country to the rest of the world, one owned by Go and the other by Vodafone Malta. Attempts to temporarily migrate Go users to Vodafone's cable until the fault was fixed proved unsuccessful.
The MCA immediately made it clear that it did not have the power to intervene in case of such a disruption but nevertheless took immediate steps to propose new regulations to the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications to be executed in such circumstances.
"In the past the MCA had held discussions with the international gateway operators with a view to securing voluntary measures to provide increased resiliency by purchasing capacity from each other. Unfortunately this approach proved insufficient," revealed a spokesman for the authority. "These regulations will now establish a legal obligation on these operators to take appropriate measures and may also require that certain information be made public in order to ensure that subscribers and users of the services can make informed choices regarding the provision of international services."
The draft new regulations, published in August, oblige any operator providing a public communications network, which includes an international connection, to ensure the integrity, security and resiliency of the international connection and to secure adequate reserve capacity on alternative network elements. In addition, such international gateway operators are required to negotiate in good faith with other international gateway operators who may seek to obtain capacity for the purpose of meeting these obligations.
Following a call for feedback on the new proposed regulations, the MCA received five responses and held meetings with operators concerned to discuss their responses in detail.
"Overall, the feedback received was quite positive in the sense that all interested parties agree that the resiliency of Malta's international connectivity is important to ensure adequate communication in case of a fault, and that operators should do their utmost to minimise 'link-associated' problems. Indeed, many respondents are investing significantly to ensure an appropriate amount of resiliency in their network," the MCA spokesman added.
"Go has submitted a confidential draft contingency plan to the MCA," confirmed a company spokesman. "At the time of writing, we are not aware of any resistance from any party to provide support to other parties in case of emergency. Go has been in discussions with other parties on this matter, but nothing has been concluded yet. That there has been no formal announcement of a signed agreement does not necessarily mean that no contingency arrangements are in fact in place. It must be added that ISPs have a choice of international bandwidth providers they can use and to our knowledge none of these has denied access to these ISPs."
Vodafone Malta told i-Tech it is considering various options at the moment to have redundancy, including launching its second cable.
"Whether we use any of the competitors' cables or lay our own still remains to be decided, but whatever we decide, we can and will be providing redundancy to other competitors' cables," the Vodafone Malta spokesman reassured. But there is a cost attached to this.
"In the event that ISPs/bandwidth providers are bound to provide each other with redundancy, it will mean an increase in prices because ISPs/bandwidth providers would need to make up for the idle capacity kept just in case of an emergency. Also, why stop at international bandwidth? What about mobile telephony, what if there is a fault and customers are without a service, considering the fact that mobiles have become an integral part of our everyday life?"
The same spokesman added that the responsibility for redundancy should not be shouldered only by the ISPs.
"Major ISPs, operators in the gaming industry and various other companies have ensured that they have continuity of service in case of an emergency like what happened to Go's cable on August 6. As in most countries, these institutions chose to operate under two providers for mission critical connectivity. Unfortunately there are other companies and institutions which for one reason or another have opted not to have a redundant solution and hence were out of service for a long time on August 6."
Immediately after the incident Melita reported it has received a number of enquiries and direct orders for main and redundancy services on broadband internet and telephony. It said its corporate customers were not affected by the incident.
Go said it will be in a position to switch on its second cable connection in early 2009. The decision to launch the second cable was taken months before August's incident.
Melita is also set to commission it own submarine cable next year, bringing the total to four. If Vodafone decides to go for a second cable, then Malta would be served by no less than five.
In the last budget speech Finance Minister Tonio Fenech referred to the launch of the submarine data cables to strengthen Malta's international links and an initiative to start providing broadband fast internet over fiber-optic cables, the same used in the submarine data cables, directly to homes. The speeds that will be offered to homes require stronger and faster international internet links than the existing ones.
However, local internet service providers have submitted their contingency plans for such an eventuality to the Malta Communications Authority (MCA), i-Tech can reveal.
Although Go was not to blame for the fault on its submarine cable which happened in Sicily, users were left wondering how much we have come to rely on internet access and taking it for granted when it is not.
At the time Malta had two submarine data cables connecting the country to the rest of the world, one owned by Go and the other by Vodafone Malta. Attempts to temporarily migrate Go users to Vodafone's cable until the fault was fixed proved unsuccessful.
The MCA immediately made it clear that it did not have the power to intervene in case of such a disruption but nevertheless took immediate steps to propose new regulations to the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications to be executed in such circumstances.
"In the past the MCA had held discussions with the international gateway operators with a view to securing voluntary measures to provide increased resiliency by purchasing capacity from each other. Unfortunately this approach proved insufficient," revealed a spokesman for the authority. "These regulations will now establish a legal obligation on these operators to take appropriate measures and may also require that certain information be made public in order to ensure that subscribers and users of the services can make informed choices regarding the provision of international services."
The draft new regulations, published in August, oblige any operator providing a public communications network, which includes an international connection, to ensure the integrity, security and resiliency of the international connection and to secure adequate reserve capacity on alternative network elements. In addition, such international gateway operators are required to negotiate in good faith with other international gateway operators who may seek to obtain capacity for the purpose of meeting these obligations.
Following a call for feedback on the new proposed regulations, the MCA received five responses and held meetings with operators concerned to discuss their responses in detail.
"Overall, the feedback received was quite positive in the sense that all interested parties agree that the resiliency of Malta's international connectivity is important to ensure adequate communication in case of a fault, and that operators should do their utmost to minimise 'link-associated' problems. Indeed, many respondents are investing significantly to ensure an appropriate amount of resiliency in their network," the MCA spokesman added.
"Go has submitted a confidential draft contingency plan to the MCA," confirmed a company spokesman. "At the time of writing, we are not aware of any resistance from any party to provide support to other parties in case of emergency. Go has been in discussions with other parties on this matter, but nothing has been concluded yet. That there has been no formal announcement of a signed agreement does not necessarily mean that no contingency arrangements are in fact in place. It must be added that ISPs have a choice of international bandwidth providers they can use and to our knowledge none of these has denied access to these ISPs."
Vodafone Malta told i-Tech it is considering various options at the moment to have redundancy, including launching its second cable.
"Whether we use any of the competitors' cables or lay our own still remains to be decided, but whatever we decide, we can and will be providing redundancy to other competitors' cables," the Vodafone Malta spokesman reassured. But there is a cost attached to this.
"In the event that ISPs/bandwidth providers are bound to provide each other with redundancy, it will mean an increase in prices because ISPs/bandwidth providers would need to make up for the idle capacity kept just in case of an emergency. Also, why stop at international bandwidth? What about mobile telephony, what if there is a fault and customers are without a service, considering the fact that mobiles have become an integral part of our everyday life?"
The same spokesman added that the responsibility for redundancy should not be shouldered only by the ISPs.
"Major ISPs, operators in the gaming industry and various other companies have ensured that they have continuity of service in case of an emergency like what happened to Go's cable on August 6. As in most countries, these institutions chose to operate under two providers for mission critical connectivity. Unfortunately there are other companies and institutions which for one reason or another have opted not to have a redundant solution and hence were out of service for a long time on August 6."
Immediately after the incident Melita reported it has received a number of enquiries and direct orders for main and redundancy services on broadband internet and telephony. It said its corporate customers were not affected by the incident.
Go said it will be in a position to switch on its second cable connection in early 2009. The decision to launch the second cable was taken months before August's incident.
Melita is also set to commission it own submarine cable next year, bringing the total to four. If Vodafone decides to go for a second cable, then Malta would be served by no less than five.
In the last budget speech Finance Minister Tonio Fenech referred to the launch of the submarine data cables to strengthen Malta's international links and an initiative to start providing broadband fast internet over fiber-optic cables, the same used in the submarine data cables, directly to homes. The speeds that will be offered to homes require stronger and faster international internet links than the existing ones.