GO, Malta’s leading quad-play communications provider, announced that its Board of Directors has approved the initial phases of an investment programme which will start this year to roll out Next Generation Networks, specifically in the mobile network and in the fixed network through which broadband internet is provided and through which other applications will be provided in the near future.
Such investments are being made so that GO continues to lead the local market in terms of the data services. In turn, such investment will ensure that customers – individual, residential or business users – continue to get the best level of service.
The investment in Next Generation Networks is being done subject to certain conditions and clarity on the regulatory framework by the authorities.
In 2009 and throughout this year, GO will have made investment commitments worth €25 million. The investment in the Next Generation Network on the fixed broadband access via fibre technology will be phased over a number of years and will be initially deployed in specific areas of Malta and Gozo – with a view of expanded deployment over a number of years.
GO Chairman Deepak Padmanabhan said: “GO has an important role to play to make sure Malta achieves its set targets of becoming a Smart Island and a centre of excellence in the Mediterranean in various sectors. Therefore, we are continuing to invest to make sure the level of service provided to our customers is the best possible. We are doing this because we believe in serving the Maltese community and supporting the islands’ growth and prosperity.”
“Significant investments were made in the past years, such as in the second submarine fibre-optic cable to Sicily, which has given Malta extra capacity and resiliency in terms of data throughput. As a result, GO is the only local telecoms provider that owns and operates two submarine cables to Europe. Last year we invested also in upgrading the wireless data speeds to up to 7.2 MBps, as well as in the nationwide digital terrestrial TV network. We are proceeding with the next wave of investment which will lead to the wider roll out of Next Generation Networks, based also on the investment which has already started last year of strengthening the last mile connection towards the customers’ premises,” continued Mr Padmanabhan.
He added that it is expected that this year GO will achieve an important milestone – that of 500,000 customer connections throughout the Maltese islands.
“Such investments will help us reach such a milestone, and at the same time ensure we continue retaining our customers, thanks also to the cost-effective bundling of services we provide,” he said.
A significant investment will be made in the core of GO’s mobile network, which is already based on 3.5G or HSDPA technology. GO will be increasing the mobile data capacity on the strength of the popularity of a number of ‘on the move’ data applications and packages such as Laptop Connect, BlackBerry and GO’s popular Internet Key.
“GO is leading the market in terms of mobile data. As announced in the last quarter of 2009, GO is the only provider in Malta that offers ‘on the move’ speeds of up to 7.2 MBps. We are investing further to make sure it can cater effectively for the projected increase take-up of mobile data, resulting from the increased usage of applications such as social networking sites, email, content downloads, streaming and many more,” said Mr Kay.
Another important investment will be made in the fixed broadband access, GO will start deploying a fibre network to the home in conjunction with the wider upgrading of the current network, specifically in the last mile towards the users, with the installation of new cabinets which provide higher internet and data speeds.
“Currently, a number of businesses in Malta already benefit from fibre connectivity which provides super fast speeds and throughput. By improving the speeds in the last mile towards the customer and deploying fibre to the home, GO will be strengthening its internet and data proposition to a wider customer base over the short to medium term,” said GO’s Chief Executive Officer David Kay.