ADSL fast internet access

For these past few weeks, various ADSL fast internet users have been complaining about perceived slow speeds in ADSL fast internet access.

Basing their complaint on incorrect or incomplete information provided by some internet service providers, they have been putting the blame on Maltacom and DataStream in their role of providers of ADSL services and international internet bandwidth in Malta.

So far, mainly due to business ethics as well as legal and contractual considerations, we have kept back from making much comment on the accusations being bandied out by certain ISPs and users.

However, we now feel that the time is ripe for the internet users of Malta to get an explanation as to what is going on, who needs to do what and what are the future prospects for high quality fast internet access in Malta.

First of all, let us establish some facts. Internet access over ADSL in Malta is cheaper than just about any other country in the world. The details below show normalised relative entry-level pricing for a comparable ADSL fast internet service for various countries.

It should also be pointed out that, in most countries, the user has to purchase a modem, whereas in Malta the modem is currently provided against a deposit, which is fully refundable upon return of modem. In addition, activation costs in most countries are considerably higher than in Malta.

Typical entry level ADSL internet pricing: Malta, Lm12; Belgium (Belgacom), Lm14.33; UK (BT), Lm16.17; USA (Verizon), Lm19.95; Italy (Telecom Italia), Lm26.70.

International IP bandwidth provision: Clearly the Maltese user gets ADSL service at a good price, and this is, for the greater part, due to Maltacom and DataStream.

Maltacom and DataStream have, over these last three years, also managed to reduce the price of IP bandwidth to ISPs to a mere fraction of what it was before.

Furthermore, we have made available several megabits of international IP bandwidth free of charge to ISPs for the promotion of broadband internet access.

In fact some of the more vociferous ISPs get about 80 per cent of their IP bandwidth free of charge from Data-Stream! A major reason for one particular ISP's criticism of Maltacom and DataStream has been that this ISP expected all bandwidth for ADSL users to be free!

It needs to be understood that3 the argument that internet access is slower because Maltacom and DataStream have refused to provide extra bandwidth to ISPs is utterly unfounded.

What two ISPs have requested was some extra bandwidth to give Voice over Internet services, not bandwidth for the benefit of their ADSL users.

The dispute over this bandwidth is primarily due to what is being considered by Maltacom and DataStream to be a breach by these ISPs of certain contractual conditions governing the use of this bandwidth.

It should be made amply clear that neither Maltacom nor DataStream has changed the terms under which they provide IP bandwidth or ADSL fast internet services and any accusations in this regard are totally incorrect.

In fact, we have been more than considerate in our treatment of ISPs, as a number of these have habitually exceeded their payment terms by several months, in spite of the fact that most ISPs get paid in advance by their users!

In the meantime, it must be kept in mind that, following the total liberalisation of the market at the beginning of the year, ISPs are free to gain access to the internet by any available means, including satellite.

Despite this facility, to date, all ISPs are still availing themselves of the IP services provided by Maltacom and DataStream. This can only be due to the self-evident fact that Maltacom and DataStream are providing competitive rates for international IP bandwidth.

In order to understand the role of each player in the local internet scenario, it is important to understand how internet access takes place in Malta, particularly with regard to ADSL internet users.

ADSL is provisioned over Maltacom's telephone line network. All ADSL internet traffic goes over telephone lines to eventually end up on a specialised broadband access router operated by DataStream.

This traffic is then sent to the routers of individual ISPs who then send this traffic back to DataStream so that it is routed out of Malta to the global internet via Maltacom's submarine cable crossing to Italy. This might sound like an unnecessarily complicated way of doing things. And in fact it is.

To improve the situation, some four months ago, DataStream, proposed a set-up under which ADSL users' traffic would pass directly from the Data-Stream router picking up the ADSL traffic straight out to the DataStream router connected to the internet backbone.

This would have led to better internet performance as well as lower costs to the end-user. The majority of the ISP community, however, came up in arms against this proposal, citing reasons such as their perceived consequential inability to manage their users' bandwidth and "quality of service" as reasons for such opposition.

Perhaps nearer the mark was the feeling that various ISPs had that their roles might be rendered redundant within this scenario.

We maintain that ISPs do have an important role to play in the internet scene. However, we feel this mainly to be in the realm of dial-up access and value added services such as e-mail, virus checking, web space hosting, access resale and customer support but not necessarily in having any direct physical role in basic broadband access provision.

It can be argued that ISPs do not possess an inalienable right to levy a toll on broadband internet access, especially if that means actually subtracting value by providing a relatively roundabout means of connection and, consequently, lower quality of service.

This has been acknowledged in Britain, where Oftel, the UK regulator, allows BT to provide basic, direct "no-frills" ADSL internet access without the need for a "middleman" ISP.

In Malta the regulations do not at this point in time allow this, although the Malta Communications Authority has given signals that this situation will change sometime this year. When it does, ADSL fast internet users stand to gain significant performance and commercial benefits.

This clarification has been necessary following the approach taken by some ISPs to give partial and sometimes misleading information to their clients, knowing too well that Maltacom and DataStream do not have a direct channel to explain their position to the ISP clients.

Mr Vella is chief executive officer, DataStream Ltd