A roadworks contractor working on the Msida creek project damaged parts of a backbone of Melita's fibre network, the company said Monday, leaving thousands unable to access the company’s services for much of the day.

The company said in a statement later on Monday that almost all service had been restored by 5pm. 

Melita said that the presence and route of the fibre cable that was hit were notified to the relevant authorities and project team well ahead of any works. Despite this, works with heavy machinery was performed irresponsibly, impacting infrastructure of Melita and other entities.

The damage has caused service disruptions to internet, television, fixed telephony, mobile and business connectivity services in the affected areas.

The company said that its technical teams were immediately deployed on site, giving repair works in the area absolute priority.

It estimated that repairs are expected to be completed by 3pm, although every effort is being made to restore services as quickly and safely as possible.

Calls to 112 (fire, ambulance, police) are designed to work from mobiles throughout any service interruption.

Melita apologised to all affected customers and thanks them for their patience and understanding while repairs are completed.

In a statement later, the company said that as of 5:00pm on Monday afternoon, 90 per cent of Melita’s mobile network sites and 75 per cent of homes in the affected areas were back online.

“Melita's technical teams worked throughout the day to repair the damaged infrastructure and restore connections for affected customers in the shortest possible time. Although connectivity started being restored from around 3:00pm, the severity of the damages coupled with the intense heat have made the repairs more complex.”

“The contractor responsible for the roadworks has acknowledged the incident and apologised for the disruption caused,” Melita said.

Melita appreciated the inconvenience experienced by customers during the outage and thanked everyone affected for their patience and understanding while repairs were carried out.

The company also thanked its technical teams for their ongoing efforts to ensure the network is restored safely and as quickly as possible.