12 - 18 October 2000

Disagreements between ISPs and Melita

by a staff reporter

A meeting was recently held between representatives of the Internet Service Providers Sub-Section (ISPSS) of the Chamber of Commerce and Melita Cable plc to discuss the implications of the draft telecommunications regulations recently released by government. A statement by the Chamber of Commerce said: “In spite of opposing positions over key issues, the meeting was positive and constructive.”
Both sides are reported to have agreed that there were favourable opportunities to provide new and better services to the business and home Internet users with added benefits from a social and national perspective. A major issue faced during the past years has been the high expense of international bandwidth. The Chamber said that it was unfortunate that the liberalisation measures postpone the lifting of this national bottleneck until 2003 “thereby stifling the availability of alternative technology offerings for international communications”.
Although matters of contention remain, Melita Cable plc and the ISPSS have agreed to proceed with further meetings to discuss regulatory as well as commercial issues.