Next phase of telecoms liberalisation starts

by David Kelleher

The much-awaited and highly-debated bill on the liberalisation of the telecoms sectors was passed in Parliament yesterday evening after more than 20 sittings and numerous objections from the opposition.

The passing of the bill now leads to a second phase of discussions involving all the operators and aimed at thrashing out what are being described as "minor" details. Following agreement between the government and the operators - Maltacom, Vodafone, Melita Cable and the Internet Service Providers - Minister Galea will be able to issue respective licences.

"The next phase involves meeting all the parties concerned to conclude in a more detailed manner certain regulations in the National Liberalisation plan," Mr Galea told The Malta Business Weekly yesterday evening.

"After these discussions have been completed, I will then be able to issue licences accordingly," he added.

Asked whether he anticipated any problems and a possible time frame when the licences will be issued, Mr Galea said that he did not believe there should be any problems. "I expect that discussions will be concluded within the next few weeks," Mr Galea said.

Mr Galea also dismissed the opposition's claims that he had said than an agreement had been reached with the operators when in fact these had not been concluded.

"There is no signed agreement. In Parliament, I could not have said that an agreement had been reached when I did not have a signed agreement. The fact is that agreement had been reached on a broad basis and a few details had still to be discussed," Mr Galea told The Malta Business Weekly.

"The five points in the national plan with regards to the dates when certain areas of the industry will be liberalised, were accepted. There are some points such as how the regulations will affect each individual operator that are still pending. Within the next few weeks we will have reached a final agreement," he added.

The new legislation will undoubtedly allow two major operators to fulfil their plans to offer new services. Melita Cable will be able to provide Internet via Cable and GoMobile will be able to obtain a licence to operate as the second mobile company in Malta.

Melita Cable are ready to launch the service as soon as the government issues the new licence, however there is still one problem that is pending. This involves the use of Maltacom's ducts to pass Melita's cable infrastructure. Some time ago, the government had promised that this issue would be solved after the bill passed in Parliament. A court case is still pending.

GoMobile will also be relieved and the new licence will allow them to apply to become a fully-fledged mobile telephony company. Contacted yesterday, the CEO of GoMobile, Prof. Juanito Camilleri, told The Malta Business Weekly that he was thrilled that the bill had passed and would be "even more thrilled when I have the licence in hand".

The licence and not the bill per se was the key to being able to operate, he said, but with the licence he would be able to begin a lengthy process to register the company with the GSM MOU and to be able to order the SIM cards.

"Once we register with the GSM MOU, they will divulge information that will allow us to enter roaming agreements and order the SIM cards. This process will take a couple of months, but the important thing is that we are moving. We are ready," Prof. Camilleri said.

While the major operators will be waiting with anticipation for the new licences, the local ISPs will be hoping that they will not be forgotten and that any decisions taken will not affect them negatively.

Speaking to The Malta Business Weekly yesterday, the chairman of the ISP's section at the Chamber of Commerce said that a meeting had been held last week and they were promised that another would be held very soon.

Asked what the ISPs position was, Mr Calleja said: "Before we have a clear position (from the government) we will not take a stand. We have been told the government is going to be cooperative and we will do the same."