The Malta Communications Authority has announced that it is embarking on detailed technical, economical, and financial feasibility study for a new submarine cable connecting Malta to other alternative locations with the objective of enhancing the resilience and quality of the current international electronic communications connectivity.
This was announced during a press conference with Parliamentary Secretary for Economic Growth Jose Herrera and the MCA Chief Information Officer Steve Agius.
It said that Malta’s broadband Internet readiness is becoming increasingly pivotal in influencing the nation’s global competitiveness. “Over the past few years new developments in international connectivity not only helped reinforce Malta’s position as the leading EU jurisdiction in the knowledge economy sector, but also led the financial and various other service-based industries to make great strides.”
The MCA said that being an island, international connectivity is fundamental to the economy, in fact, the last few years were characterised by an enormous expansion in Malta’s international connectivity and communications capacity.
“This was driven by the evolution of the tertiary sector of the economy into an intellectual services industry and inward investments in the secondary sector of the economy, targeting mainly the pharmaceutical, Just-In-Time and high-value added advanced manufacturing industries.”
“The emerging innovative business models in the quaternary sector of the economy are increasing the demand for low-latency, low-cost and high-resilient bandwidth, the Authority stated that “the magnitude of the implications of an alternate submarine cable that meets these characteristics cannot be underestimated – a better connected environment will accelerate the evolution of the economy thus, make Malta more attractive to innovative business opportunities.”
As a small island state needing to keep-up and advance within an increasingly competitive and ICT-driven global environment, a most robust, efficient and effective international electronic connectivity is a critical success factor, it said.
The aim of the study is to identify the best strategies for deployment and compare the various models and recommendations for the optimal technical, commercial and financial solution. The study is being financed by Technical Assistance funds from the European Regional Development Cohesion Fund.
By means of this study, the Authority said that it will ensure that Malta’s connectivity is efficient and competitive, offering the best services at the best price, thus contributing to improve the country’s competitiveness.