ISDN pilot project enters second phase

by David Kelleher

A news item carried on a local ISP's corporate website saying that Maltacom had announced the availability of ISDN services yesterday generated considerable interest among the Internet user community.

In a statement sent to all local Internet service providers (ISPs), on Tuesday Maltacom said it was accepting applications from individuals or companies interested in the new service on an experimental basis and at certain rates.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) turns a conventional telephone line into a high-speed point-to-point connection offering much better telephony quality and better access speeds for data services. When the item was carried on at least two local ISPs' websites, observers in the sector questioned how this was possible as the Telecommunications Regulator has not, as yet, approved Maltacom's ISDN tariffs.

However, Maltacom yesterday issued a clarification saying it was not offering ISDN services.

"With reference to the news item on your corporate Website where you claim that Maltacom has announced the availability of ISDN please note that this information is incorrect and may give rise to misleading impressions.

"The information communicated to our valued customers explicitly states that 'Maltacom is now initiating the second phase of the ISDN Pilot Project'. There has never been an official Maltacom communication announcing the introduction of the ISDN service.

"This is only an extension of the ISDN pilot project phase in anticipation of the full scale commercial launch. Furthermore at no point has Maltacom announced the availability of ISDN to all customers. Maltacom is not announcing ISDN availability but merely initiating the second phase of its ISDN pilot project and extending it to cover all Exchange areas," the statement said.

When contacted yesterday, Maltacom chairman Noel Zarb Adami told The Malta Business Weekly that this was only a pilot project in line with the company's plans to offer ISDN on a commercial scale.

When asked how Maltacom had also announced the prices for the new service when the regulator had not yet approved the new tariffs, Mr Zarb Adami said that they were not tariffs for the new service.

"The offer is open to those who want to take part in this pilot project. Now to do so we are going to be charging those rates. We cannot give the testing service free of charge," Mr Zarb Adami said.

The second phase of the ISDN Pilot Project period began yesterday and comes to an end when the service is officially launched. According to the rates listed in the application form, to switch to ISDN during the pilot project phase, it will cost a home user Lm40 (excluding VAT) as a once-only connection fee, Lm48 rental fee per annum and Lm40 for the rental of the Network Termination Plus (a device installed in the individual's home).

Businesses on the other hand will have to pay Lm80 for the connection, Lm104, annual rental fee and Lm40 for the NT+.

Anyone interested in subscribing to the pilot, Maltacom said, will be subject to all the terms and conditions contained in the Telephone Service Regulations 1972, as amended and as approved by the Telecommunications Regulator.

"At the end of this second phase of the ISDN Pilot Project period, Maltacom will inform all customers that the pilot project phase is to be terminated on a specific date beyond which the charges shown above shall cease to apply and be replaced by the official ISDN tariffs. The customer shall have the option to either retain the ISDN service at the official tariffs or to revert back to a conventional PSTN service," the application form said.

Contacted yesterday, a spokesman for the Ministry of Telecommunications told The Malta Business Weekly that the regulator had not approved any tariffs for the provision of ISDN services and that nothing had changed.

Maltacom had planned to launch ISDN towards the end of 1999 but the project had to be put on hold because the Regulator had not approved Maltacom's tariffs for the new high speed connection. Asked whether there had been any developments in this regard, Mr Zarb Adami said: "We proposed a set of tariffs but the Regulator has not got back to us."