Vodafone Malta Ltd celebrated its 15th anniversary with a party for employees at Le Meridien Phoenicia.

Vodafone began operating in Malta as Telecell in July 1990. It was the first overseas subsidiary of Vodafone Group plc, the world’s largest mobile community.

Vodafone has long been at the forefront of technical developments in Malta. The company was one of the first mobile providers to use ETACS analogue equipment in Europe and it is now intending to introduce 3G to Malta. Vodafone Malta has a customer base of over 170,000 customers.

The party also gave employees an opportunity to bid farewell to outgoing chief executive officer Joseph C. Grioli, who announced his retirement some weeks ago. Mr Grioli has been CEO of Vodafone Malta since its formation.

Also attending the party was Hatem Dowidar, Vodafone Malta’s new CEO. Mr Dowidar was previously Vodafone Group’s Director of Voice and Text Propositions, and brings with him considerable experience in the mobile communications market.

The anniversary party included a sumptuous buffet and culminated with a fireworks show. Entertain-ment was provided by J Anvil, who is also a Vodafone employee, a rock band made up of Vodafone staff, top local band Winter Moods and DJ Carlo Borg Bonaci.