Following the Fibre to the Home Expression of Interest [1] launched by the Ministry for Infrastructure, Transport and Communications which closed on the 14th May 2012, 15 expressions of interest were received.
Submissions were received from the UK, USA, Spain, Slovenia, Sweden, China, France and Malta.
Companies who expressed interest are:
Oplan Foundation UK
ITS Technologies / Greenwood UK
Huawei China
Kabel X UK
ICT Networks / IFTAC Malta / Sweden
Ventura UK / USA
Sofrecom France
ADTRAN USA
Hydro Rocks Malta
GO plc Malta
Melita plc Malta
Ericsson Sweden
Aggaros Spain
Innbox Slovenia
Vodafone Malta Malta
This Expression of Interest call is intended to lead to an open tender process.
The Government said that it is committed to accelerate the roll-out of ultra-fast broadband services to all areas of Malta and Gozo, concentrating initially, on priority broadband users such as businesses, schools and public services where possible. Following this, the plan is 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 attracting ICT and service- based industries to Malta and enabling the Maltese 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.
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.
Recognising the significant investment challenges associated with the roll-out of ultra- fast broadband networks, the Government of Malta has signalled its intention 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.