IT and Investment Minister Austin Gatt’s appeal to ISPs to offer cheaper and more affordable broadband rates must have been music to every internet user’s ears.
When one looks at prices for broadband packages in Malta, as well as the packages themselves, and compares them to other European nations, it is hard not to shudder. The prices are way too high, the service is not that good and the connection speed and download limits are not that good either. Granted, there have been some local companies that have not only scaled down their prices, but have increased connection speed and download limits as well as allowing free downloads at night. But by and large, one would have to deem that the cost of having broadband in this country is prohibitive and simply not up to scratch for a (heavily) paying customer.
There is also a problem whereby ISPs advertise specific download or connection speeds as being phenomenal. Yet, what they do not tell you is that they themselves then limit the traffic which they allow to pass through their networks, effectively creating a stranglehold on what can and cannot be passed from one computer to another. This happens due to there being a shared network – think of it as trying to squeeze Niagara Falls through 65,000 or so, straws (households in Malta with internet access).
Broadband access is not all about studying either. It is used by a multitude of users for various reasons; it is folly to think that only someone studying IT needs a broadband connection. Here again is where we need a culture change. One person might want broadband to play online games while another might want it to stream (paid for and legitimate) sports or television programmes. Others might want to watch the news, others might want to share files and photos or stream movies from pay sites. There are so many uses, it is hard to touch on them all, but one which is heavily dependent on broadband is Voice Over IP telephony (through a handset or through a computer). We hope this is a wake-up call (many might be ogling in wonder at all these uses mentioned above). Unfortunately, as mentioned, some people might say: “Oh, that person only needs it for games, it’s not that important.”
How can people (especially ISPs) take this attitude. If a person pays for broadband access, they want what they have paid for. Think of internet traffic as a taxi. You want to get from A to B within a reasonable time frame. Would anyone pay the fare if the driver insisted on getting there at five miles per hour, and dropping the client off five blocks away from the desired destination? Of course not. Would it make any difference if you were expecting a baby or were on your way to a night out on the town? Again, of course not. So why should it be any different when paying for broadband service?
We do have a good infrastructure and we do have reasonable service – but people do not want a reasonable service, they want what they are paying for, at the very least. Perhaps a word of advice to the Ministry. We need more graduates in IT, and yes, they are the ones who need broadband the most. If we can look into sinking an underground power cable to link to the European energy grid, perhaps we should look into doing the same with a fibre optic cable to Europe, thereby tapping directly into mainland European ISPs.
Some might dismiss the suggestion as folly, however, it can be done; it is reliable and a durable solution. This would also bust the duopoly held onto by Go and Vodafone, opening the market with more competition.
Granted, you would still need a distribution setup here in Malta, but with the advent of SmartCity, it should not be that hard to attract investment. Satellite is another option, but with technology as it is at present, it would not be as efficient a method as cabling.