The Techinvest Group, headed by former Maltacom chairman Tony Mejlaq, is poised on the cutting edge of new communications technologies and has led the way in many respects in terms of high speed Internet and Voice over Internet Protocol.

As part of the Group’s quest to capitalise on emerging technologies, it launched a satellite-based communications network this week to provide high-speed Internet and GSM and VoIP telephony to far flung locations not reachable by traditional networks.

The service is primarily being targeted towards the Mediterranean’s luxury ferry market but in future could very well be to cruise liners, oil rigs and fields, high-speed trains and even airlines.

Additionally, the company is set to roll out its wireless broadband access infrastructure next year, which will provide new forms of Internet and telephony connectivity not seen before in Malta.

Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday, Mr Mejlaq touches on these, and other issues such as the somewhat inhibitive price of bandwidth in Malta and the contentious issue of competition in the VoIP telephony market.

This week the Italian port of Genoa saw the launch of WINS – a joint venture between Maltasat International, a company of the Techinvest Group, and Skylogic Italia, the broadband affiliate of Europe’s largest satellite operator Eutelsat. The pair has jointly developed the innovative technology, which was launched this week onboard the Grandi Navi Veloci ferry La Superba.

“This is a big development and the best thing about it is that we are looking at an export market,” Mr Mejlaq commented on Thursday in the wake of the Genoa launch event.

For starters, the WINS system is being installed on a number of cruise ferries, which carry some 3,000 passengers and 1,000 cars. The project is the result of the synthesis struck between Maltasat and Eutelsat, Europe’s largest and the world’s third largest satellite operator with no less than 28 satellites orbiting the earth.

Maltasat has been involved with Eutelsat for the last three years and last year Techinvest convinced the company to expand their partnership outside the relatively small Maltese market.

The pair worked in tandem on the development of the system, which will entail a significant amount of communications traffic passing through Malta – more specifically through a 2.5-metre satellite dish, communications gateway on the roof of Techinvest’s Santa Venera headquarters.

Briefly, the system works like this. A person on a vessel in the middle of the sea makes a phone call that connects to a Eutelsat satellite, which beams the data to Maltasat’s gateway. The data is then connected via microwave link to the nearby Vodafone premises, from where it is sent on to its destination.

WINS has already carried out installations on seven ships and another two ships are expected to be fitted with the system in July, while contracts for installations on a further seven ships have been signed and installations are expected to be carried out by the year’s end.

The ships in question carry in the region of two million passengers per year, exceeding Malta’s entire yearly incoming and outgoing tourism traffic.

In addition to GSM and high speed Internet access, the service also extends into the areas of VoIP – through passenger cabin’s PABX-connected telephones – and credit card authentication for onboard shops, which saves shopkeepers the headache of having to wait for the next port of call to authenticate customers’ payments.

And that is only the beginning, Mr Mejlaq says, for the partnership. From the Mediterranean ferry market, Mr Mejlaq explains how the company will also be targeting the cruise liner industry and discussions with American companies from the sector are in the pipeline.

WINS is also actively looking into the provision of high speed Internet on board aircraft and high-speed trains, now that the limitations associated with high speed travel have been overcome and WINS has tested the system on high speed trains.

Broadband take up and the cost of bandwidth

Mr Mejlaq cites the fact that the take up of broadband in Malta has fared very well compared with that of other European countries, but there is still a good deal of room in which to grow as the price of bandwidth for Internet service providers is rather high.

“If we really want to see an explosion in Internet usage, the cost of bandwidth must come down. Prices from the two major players, Vodafone and Maltacom, are at the moment still overpriced,” he comments. “And when I say overpriced, I mean to the tune of about 100 times.” He notes that in Canada, for example, bandwidth can be purchased by ISPs for as little as 100 dollars per megabit.

He does believe, however, that the privatisation of Maltacom should go some way towards rectifying the situation.

“I think Malta needed a big partner that could speed up any potential investments needed to start delivering such solutions. The most important thing for Maltacom right now is to start offering triple play services incorporating video, voice and Internet.”

Mr Mejlaq believes that if the Malta Communications Authority were to act appropriately on the matter, the cost of bandwidth could very well down, given the price of bandwidth in the UK and Italy, and also considering that the Malta-Sicily link is owned jointly by Maltacom and Telecom Italia.

Wireless broadband

The company is also venturing into the area of wireless broadband and has been given an infrastructure licence through the Cellcom company, 50 per cent of which is owned by Techinvest while the remaining stake is held by Waldonet and Keyworld. The three companies together account for a considerable 50 per cent of Malta’s ADSL market.

Cellcom expects to roll out the service in the course of the first half of next year and, once set up, it will provide the facility for anyone with a computer to access high-speed Internet from different locations – effectively eliminating the need to physically connect to a landline. He describes the technology as “Wi-Fi but more spread”, adding that the service should be on offer to the public next year.

Interestingly, the service will also allow those who have special phones to carry their home phones, for example, around with them so that they can be reached on their home number, on the same phone, from just about anywhere.

VoIP telephony and the 1021 service

The issue of VoIP telephony has been a bone of contention between Maltacom and the private sector since the introduction of low-cost international telephone cards, which had eaten away at Maltacom’s fixed line international call business. And when Maltacom introduced its own 1021 VoIP service last year, the private sector had taken great exception.

Mr Mejlaq explains, “We have taken the issue up with the Malta Communications Authority and the Office for Fair Trade. With the introduction of 1021 at very cheap rates, rates which are being subsidised by Maltacom with the aim of driving us out of business, we have obviously taken a big hit.

“Now most of Malta’s VoIP business, which is still growing, has now shifted to Maltacom. This is not the best solution Maltacom could have thought of, since the end result is that they are losing more revenue than they were before. I don’t believe Maltacom had adopted the best strategic point of view in this respect.

“ISPs should be looked upon in a more friendly manner by Maltacom – in a way where they can add value to Maltacom’s basic services, and not the other way around by trying to kill them off through such measures.”