The Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications, has launched a call for expressions of interest in the roll-out of a next generation broadband infrastructure that allows for ultra-fast broadband services, across Malta and Gozo.

The Government of Malta said that it is “committed to accelerating the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband services to all areas of Malta and Gozo, concentrating initially, on priority broadband users such as schools, hospitals, businesses and providers of other public services where possible. Following this, we plan to reach all residential areas in a phased approach through a nation-wide Fibre-to-the-Home network.”

“This network is essential for Malta to continue to be among the leading nations in the field of ICT, building upon its successes in creating new jobs in the ICT and service- based industries to Malta and enabling the Government to continue to be the European leader in eGovernment services. Our plans for eHealth and eLearning solutions, which will bring state-of-the-art health care and learning solutions into our homes, are dependent on having a resilient, future-proof network, offering services in a competitive environment,” Minister Austin Gatt said.

The objective of having an ultra-fast broadband network is in line with the EU-wide objective of 100 Mbps service availability and wide-spread take-up by 2020.

The Government, in line with its Vision 2015, said it “is determined to make Malta a centre of excellence in key economic sectors. In this regard, Government has long recognised that ICT and in particular access to the Internet via state-of-the art networks, is fundamental towards the realisation of this ambition. Over the past two decades, its policies have consistently aimed to secure access for all to broadband networks that are future proof and capable of meeting the demand for digital services that is generated by a thriving and vibrant modern economy.”

“Its efforts have led to Malta being the European leader in eGovernment services and to be the first country in Europe to mandate 4 Mbps connections as the minimum threshold for access to the Internet,” the Ministry said.

“These achievements however are not sufficient to meet anticipated future demand. Today electronic services are truly revolutionising the way we live and work. As a significant proportion of everyday life and economic activity is carried out online, future- proof internet access infrastructure and superfast broadband connections are vital prerequisites for Malta to continue to remain amongst the leading nations in ICT and attain its economic and social development targets.”

The Government said that it “recognises that current networks will in the coming years become insufficient to meet the demand for wide-spread, high speed Internet access that developed economies will generate. Consequently all countries aspiring to be on the forefront of innovation, global trade and knowledge leadership, including a number of European and Asian as well as the United States, have plans to ensure the roll-out of superfast, new broadband networks. They are moving away from traditional technologies and laying down fibre-optic cable networks that enable the attainment of unprecedented broadband speeds.”

“These investments recognise that the Internet will continue to revolutionise the way we live, and work and that the long-term impact of fast internet access could equal that of electricity in the 20th century.”

The Government conituned by saying it “intends to remain at the forefront in this field and is taking important, concrete steps to secure the availability of such networks in Malta.”

Following the publication of the Green Paper on Next Generation Access Infrastructure, Government said it has carried out a series of consultations with stakeholders and commissioned a feasibility study to determine the cost of a fibre to the home network in Malta; the most suitable technologies to deploy; and the best investment model to implement. This has been a mammoth task involving the analysis and costing of various passive and active options.

These studies highlight the significant investment challenges associated with the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband networks, and the Government said it is therefore prepared to share some of the risks and incentivise investment through direct intervention.

“Intervention by the Government will aim to ensure that wholesale access is available on the market in order to foster healthy retail competition. An appropriate range of wholesale products will therefore be required to enable service providers to differentiate from each other.”

The Government said it will consider suitable investment and operational models, such as:

– a private design, build and operate model, with state funds or assets being made available to the private investor to assist in the deployment of the new network; in this model the Government of Malta would have no role in the ownership or running of the network but may impose obligations in return for the funding; or

– a joint venture model where the ownership of the network would be split between Government and the private sector, with the construction and operational functions undertaken by the private sector.

This call for expressions of interest is intended to lead to an open tender process in line with the OJEU Competitive Dialogue procedure which includes the following steps:

– market awareness

– pre-qualification questionnaire

– invitation to participate in dialogue

– dialogue process

– invitation to tender

– contract award.

The bidder with the lowest amount of aid required will be the winner, subject to all other criteria being met. The call can be downloaded from the Ministry’s website at https://mitc.gov.mt/tendersitem.aspx?tenderid=123.

This call will be open till 16 April, 2012.

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