27 April - 3 May 2000

Communications Authority law to be published shortly

by David Kelleher

The law which will provide for the setting up of a Communications Authority is expected to be published within the coming days, Telecommunications Minister Censu Galea said yesterday.

"The law regarding the setting up of the Communications Authority will be published within the coming days - most probably early next week," Mr Galea told The Malta Business Weekly.

The bill on the Communications Authority was approved by Cabinet last week and the Prime Minister said the authority will take up the function of the regulator in the telecommunications sector so that the liberalisation process could be hastened.

The regulator is responsible for the granting and refusing of licences to provide telecommunications and services or to operate telecoms networks; the submission of appeals for the grant of refusal of licences, the fixing of rate mechanism, the establishment of a numbering plan, the determination of interconnection disputes, the safeguarding of the subscribers' interests and the setting up of standards and the testing of apparatus.

Asked when the Authority was expected to start functioning, Mr Galea said that the law had to be first discussed in Parliament. "It is difficult to say when the Authority will be in place. The faster it is passed through Parliament the better," Mr Galea told The Malta Business Weekly.

The government has stepped up its efforts to speed up the liberalisation process and the setting up of the authority will be an important step forward in guaranteeing an equal playing field for all.

However, there is still a certain amount of anxiety over how full liberalisation will take place. The government is apparently in favour of a free-for-all environment, however, not everyone is convinced that this is possible.

Despite all the players welcoming the news and both Melita Cable and Vodafone expressing satisfaction that the ball is finally moving in the right direction, many feel that too much attention is being given to Maltacom.

When the government gave the initial signal that it intended liberalising the telecommunications sector, Maltacom objected because, rightly so, it would be badly affected by such a move due to overstaffing.

Yet, a closer look at the situation shows that Maltacom is not the only company that is about to lose its monopoly. While it may lose its hold on the fixed-telephony sector, Vodafone and Melita Cable are also losing out on their monopolies - in the mobile and cable TV sectors.

This has led some to comment that Maltacom is entering the competitive market with a bit more ease that its competitors.

"When the market is liberalised Maltacom will be able to compete with Vodafone through its subsidiary Mobisle; it will be directly competing with Melita's Internet via cable by introducing ADSL; and Maltacom is actively planning to introduce satellite TV next year.

"On the other hand, Vodafone will have to share its market with Mobisle as it will not enter data services or fixed line telephony, while Melita will have to wait a number of years before it can venture into the fixed-telephony sector," one financial analyst specialising in telecoms told The Malta Business Weekly.

"What is wrong in Malta is that no one seems to be paying attention to the fact that two other players are about to lose their monopolies. What if they ask the government for compensation as well? That would create an interesting scenario. To a certain extent Maltacom is not really losing that much compared to all the other players," he added.

Both Melita and Vodafone have indicated that they are not interested in compensation but only being able to provide the services they want without restrictions.

Full liberalisation of the telecoms sector will result in the government having to revise each player's licence, however even then minor issues could arise. For example, the ducts used by Melita Cable for its cabling cannot be used for data transmission.

Thus, Melita will have to come to another agreement over the ducts. Undoubtedly the issue of open access of its network to Internet Service Providers will be another bone of contention.

"That is another hot issue that could cause problems. It has not been resolved in the US or anywhere else for that matter, so I wonder how it will be tackled here? We are about to experience some very interesting times ahead," the financial analyst said.

Meanwhile Cabinet yesterday approved a White Paper on electronic communication at Castille.

The White Paper will effectively give a comprehensive cover in the informatics systems related to communications, particularly those concerning government.

"I believe the White Paper gives a good background on what is needed in the country in today's circumstances," Dr Fenech Adami said.

Three laws are included in the paper - on electronic communication, data protection and privacy and abuses in computer usage.

"The laws give a solid foundation to electronic communication. All the necessary time will also be allocated for consultation before the bills are made into legislation in Parliament," Dr Fenech Adami said.