On 6 August last year, Malta was isolated from the rest of the world for a whole day when the GO submarine communication with Sicily suffered problems.
It later transpired that at around the same time another submarine cable nearer Egypt had suffered a similar fate, as a result of which the whole Middle East and even Dubai suffered an Internet blackout that lasted for days.
Maybe it was a seaquake, maybe a ship or two dragging their anchors.
Even that long-forgotten accident had affected Malta’s connectivity with the world big time.
Since then, Malta’s cable links to the continent have increased and there are now, at the last count, four, with a possibility of a further one linking Malta directly to Marseilles.
This year, we have had, in quick succession, a day-long suspension of the electricity supply, then, last week, a software problem with Melita’s international connectivity and then a big water supply hitch that affected half of Malta.
A mishap is a mishap is a mishap. But such is the absolute dependence of Malta on connectivity, whether it’s Internet or electricity, that without them Malta reverts back, really, to an island, lost in the middle of the Mediterranean, cut off from the continent.
Homes cannot function, or survive in this heat, without electricity. Work cannot be done without electricity. And without Internet most of the work we do cannot be done. Those who think Internet is for FaceBook or Ebay should think again. Only the other day, Minister Tonio Fenech pointed out that whereas the manufacturing industry employs some 28,000 people, the services industries employ around 50,000. These include facilities like Lufthansa Technik Malta, as well as many e-gaming facilities and call centres.
Manufacturing could conceivably, though with difficulty, survive for a day or two without Internet, but not e-gaming. Nor call centres. Nor tourism, now more than ever dependent on personal, internet-booking engines.
Hence the absolute importance of connectivity for Malta. When a contractor in Birguma or anywhere damages an electricity cable and the electricity supply is suspended indefinitely until the damage is repaired, that is bad enough. But when Internet is off, that means huge loss of business for so many sectors that depend on Internet connectivity for business deals and throughputs that cannot wait, even for one minute. It is that crucial.
It was for this reason that following last year’s GO problems the local providers – GO, Vodafone and later Melita – devoted huge sums to establish separate links with the continent.
In the light of what happened when Enemalta had problems with its electricity generation, there will soon (in relative terms) be an interconnector linking Malta to the Sicilian electricity supply, even though it could mean that in future years Malta’s alternative electricity supply will be from nuclear energy.
Ensuring connectivity is the government’s prime role. Many of the companies mentioned here are private companies but the government comes in, must come in, to ensure that Malta retains its connectivity at all times. At the very least, it is the government’s duty to ensure that, whatever the competition between the providers, they have agreements in place to help each other out in times of problems. We thought that after last year’s problems with GO, this had been settled between the providers, through the mediation of the Malta Communication Authority, but last week we found out it wasn’t strong enough to cope. Then we had the usual spate of accusations and counter-accusations. And of course, since this is a keen competition for the last client, we had blogs and comments posted everywhere that one hesitates between thinking whether they were genuine or planted ones.
Any time there is a break in any service, the government tends to be blamed, sometimes with reason, sometimes without. But anytime Malta’s connectivity is broken, then it is the government that is to blame, beyond the single providers. Today, more than ever, connectivity is essential for Malta’s survival. Connectivity is strategic. Without it, our industries cannot work and we could revert to mass-producing garments in Chinese-style factories and economic models. And at Chinese wages, not the wages (even if low) that we have gotten used to.
Whatever happens to the SmartCity concept (this paper saying it has serious problems and The Times saying it’s all on track) there are already enough companies here to survive without the admittedly important and massive Dubai influx. There are small, and there are not so small ICT companies around. Maybe we will indeed need to import Indian IT techies to staff the incoming SmartCity companies, but maybe too we are seeing ICT attracting an increasing number of our young people (much as in a few years we have sprouted aircraft technicians). They all need connectivity and any break in connectivity will put them out of business.
Apart from outward connectivity, we need inward connectivity too. Our homes are becoming more and more computer-based. Rare is the house today where one finds no computer. Where the parents were not exposed to such technology in their time, their children necessarily are. Many homes have computers for the children, let alone the parents. Even considered from this point of view, connectivity is of the essence. There was a time when the computer in the home was relegated to children using it to do projects or assignments. Alternatively, it was used for games or to download music. Now it means everything. Just like a day without electricity is barely liveable, so too a day without computer connectivity is a wasted day.
Providing Internet connectivity and electricity connectivity has become what the citizens expect their government to ensure. There has been, and is, considerable debate over what the government should go in for and not go in for. Today we all agree, except the irreducible Marxists, that the government has no role in competing with private industry or in taking over roles that belong in the private sphere. But there is a clear role the government is expected to take and this is in cutting costs for the people and in ensuring connectivity.
When the government created the Regional Road, for instance, it was acting its proper role for it freed Maltese drivers from the long and extenuating queues and hassles around Msida. For the expenditure of what it cost to build the Regional Road, the government was freeing the economy from so much waste of time. (There is so much, oh so much, more to do in this respect).
Equally, ensuring connectivity is clearly government’s role and duty. A home with no electricity supply cannot function: all we have and all we do today is run by electricity. Having electricity but having no Internet connectivity is as bad, as we saw this past week and last year.
I am not blaming either the providers nor the government for the breaks in connectivity, for faults do happen, especially with our summer heat. The providers have tried to ensure there are no more breaks in the provision of services as much as the government is trying to ensure there is no problem with the electricity supply when the Marsa power station is switched off. The government has the legal tools to enforce all providers to ensure connectivity at all times and in whatever way. Let it use it, even at the cost of more banging on the table because the people take one break of provision as an accident, but they take two as a sign of inability and three as a sign of criminal weakness.
Having said all this, on a last note, it definitely is time for the providers to have far better customer relations. Many times people are left holding on, listening to (tacky) music while the calls are slowly replied to. Even then, many times you can’t get proper and precise information on what has happened, and when the supply will be back. That only leads to people venting their anger in every possible way. But that is limited. Just as people can only wait five years for payback time when they can send a message to the government, which they feel let them down, so too people today, many times locked in contracts they cannot break, or quadruple contracts breaking out of which would be almost unthinkable, react with increased, frustrated, anger when they find they cannot get a fair hearing.
Even then, and especially then, the government gets the blame. Maybe unfairly, maybe not at all, but there you are.
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