People started queuing at 5am yesterday to take advantage of the government’s Blueskies scheme that offers broadband internet for only e3/Lm1.29 a month to people who never had it before.
Apart from the usual queues outside the banks, which have become a common sight since the introduction of the euro on 1 January, an impressively long queue, which left passer-bys in Valletta staring, started from the registration tent situated in front of the Health Ministry in Merchants Street, all the way past the police station down to the former Opera House and into Republic Street.
Under the scheme, the Investment, Industry and Information Technology Ministry, along with 12 Internet service providers, will be subsidising this service for first time users for the first year. Families having members with a disability will receive the broadband service free of charge.
According to a ministerial statement, it is estimated that over 4,000 households registered yesterday morning.
The queue was divided into two – with a fast-track lane reserved for senior citizens and people with a disability on the right. Entire families with children in pushchairs along with young couples waited patiently for their turn.
Eyewitnesses said that people started queuing at around 5am and by 9am the queue had already reached Republic Street. Although the volunteers in the registration tent worked steadily, people who got there at 7am told this newspaper that they registered around three hours later, at around 10am.
During the long wait, some people ran errands, started conversations with the people next to them while others had the foresight to bring a book to pass the time or a game to keep their children quiet.
At around 10am, an informally dressed Prime Minister accompanied by Minister for Investment, Industry and Information Technology Austin Gatt, arrived in Merchants Street to see the turnout and greet the people waiting in the queue.
In a brief comment to the press, Dr Gatt said that this scheme should help push Malta to the top with the highest percentage of Internet home users.
He pointed out that the scheme was obviously very successful and another step forward to help Malta become a centre of excellence in IT in the Mediterranean and the EU.
Prime Minister Gonzi said that the registration scheme was a great success.
“This is a government that has acted as a catalyst for change with a line of politics that has changed this country,” he said.
The Blueskies scheme is one of the investments that will bring about these changes, a change that will improve the lives of the Maltese, said the Prime Minister.
Dr Gonzi said the government will be paying e130/Lm55.87 as a subsidy for each family in an attempt to remove the digital divide.
“We are implementing what we promised – through this concrete measure we are moving towards the vision of excellence that we want to reach by 2015,” he said, closely echoing Dr Gatt’s comments.
He pointed to the long queue snaking all the way down to Republic Street saying “these people all want to be part of this vision”.
Afterwards, Dr Gonzi and Dr Gatt went for a walk around Valletta, visiting various shops, pausing in several band clubs for a coffee or a beer – and continuously greeting people on the way – an exercise that gave rise to various comments from passer-bys that the general election is very, very close.