Internet in Malta

Malta has been involved with the Internet since the latter's early days.

The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Malta is .mt and is sponsored by NIC Malta.^[1] The .eu domain is also used, as it is shared with other European Union member states.

Currently Internet access is available to businesses and home users in various forms, including dial-up, cable, DSL, and wireless.

Dial-up

Dial-up Internet access was first introduced in Malta by various ISPs. This narrowband service has been almost entirely replaced by the new broadband technologies, and is generally only used as a backup.

Broadband

Commercial availability of broadband Internet in Malta, through ADSL and cable Internet, has existed since 2000, and is accessible from all areas of the island. Broadband connectivity has become very widespread on the island, with many households opting for a broadband connection.

ADSL bandwidth is received mainly through the Seabone Network, Interoute and Telecom Italia, operated by GO Plc and Vodafone Malta Ltd, Whilst there is another connection operated by Melita Plc

The bandwidth is then sold to the various ISPs which in turn sell it to customers.

December 2005, DataStream merged with the ISP Maltanet, giving Maltanet a competitive edge over other ISPs. Both DataStream and Maltanet were subsidiaries of Maltacom, the national telephone company, which is now integrated into one company called GO Plc (http://www.go.com.mt/).

Cable Internet is offered by only one ISP, Melita Plc. Melita - Internet (formerly branded as OnVol) is a division of the cable and digital television provider, Melita Plc. Melita - Internet also offer standard ADSL connections for businesses.

In Q3 2007 Vodafone launched a fixed WiMAX based offering for Internet access. This increased the competition in Malta. However since Q2/Q3 of 2011, this has been discontinued due to unsatisfactory results with the reliability of the WiMAX system, and is no longer offered to new customers.

In 2010 Melita (http://www.melita.com) launched the fastest internet service in Malta at 100Mbit/s per second. Melita also held the highest upload speed at the time with 4Mbit/s per second, which has today been matched mainly thanks to advances in telephone copper delivered internet through new technologies such as vDSL.

References