Parliamentary Secretary Edward Zammit Lewis said that Melita is a prime example of continued investment, starting off as a cable operator and expanding its business into different sectors, today offering a full range of telecoms services including mobile and fixed telephony as well as broadband services.

He was speaking during the launch of Melita’s 250 mega bits per second internet download speed this morning at Melita’s premises in Mriehel.

For the time-being, the 250mgbs service will be available to the Sliema area, particularly Tigne Point and Fort Cambridge, where there’s a demand for such a fast download speed, but in the near future will be provided in other localities, according to Andrei Torriani, Melita’s chief executive officer.

Mr Torriani said that this service is a taste of more things to come.

He pointed out that Melita’s customer care unit receives around 50,000 calls a month, adding that 75% of housholds are Melita customers.

He said that Malta had the luxury of high download speeds, opposed to other countries where such speeds were only provided in big cities.

Dr Zammit Lewis said that the government is committed to ensuring that the policy decisions it takes will continue to support the industry so that technological advances can continue to take place locally, where both industry players and consumers can continue to be active and valued contributors to Malta's digital economy.

He said that the government is committed to reaching the EU Digital Economy 2020 targets, adding that Malta is already well ahead of the targets imposed by the EU in the run-up to 2020.

“Without a doubt, investment in current and new infrastructures is the key to increased competition in the sector, generating better quality of services and value-for-money for consumers,” he said.

Joe Gasan, chairman, Melita, said that the company always stood at the forefront of the telecommunications industry since its inception in 1991.