Cost of connection faults 'hard to quantify - but in the millions'
Malta has twice risked being cut off from the global networks over the past six months or so, when the submarine cable operated by Go was cut. In both cases, the second cable, operated by Vodafone, proved invaluable even though, for the first fault in...
Malta has twice risked being cut off from the global networks over the past six months or so, when the submarine cable operated by Go was cut. In both cases, the second cable, operated by Vodafone, proved invaluable even though, for the first fault in August 2008, Vodafone was unable to provide bandwidth to Go.
Vodafone did have spare capacity on its cable in December, mitigating the direct effects of the second fault. The period of disruption was further reduced when, despite delays caused by bad weather at the beginning of December, installation of Go's second cable to Mazara del Vallo was speeded up.
"It is difficult to quantify the cost of the interruptions to businesses in Malta," Philip Micallef, executive chairman at the Malta Communications Authority said. "The cost of the first fault in August could run into millions of euro, but getting a realistic figure is almost impossible."
The August failure happened during a business day, and with Vodafone's submarine cable operating at close to full capacity there was not enough bandwidth available for Go. "It takes a few days to increase the active capacity on a cable," Mr Micallef explained.
Much of the cost of the failure was in the form of lost business and revenue, and thus is not exactly quantifiable. Any estimate is based upon a projection based upon past performance during comparable time periods.
By the second fault in December, Vodafone had the capacity to provide Go with 300MB/s immediately, and more shortly after that. The timing of the fault in December hit at about 6.30 p.m., at the end of the business day - which meant that the immediate disruption to businesses was much smaller than in August.
Following the problems in August, Go and Vodafone reached an agreement on contingency plans in case of a submarine cable failure and the resulting disruption of international connectivity. By bringing the completion and entry into service of its second cable forward, Go managed to restore normality fast. Industry sources say that the new Go cable is still carrying all Go's traffic, because the damaged cable to Catania is still under repair.
"The December fault affected three or four different cables, and the accepted practice is that the cables carrying the greatest volume of traffic are fixed first," sources said. "The other cables carry trunk traffic from Asia and the Middle East - Malta's traffic is a lot smaller than that."
Repairs are currently under way, and are expected to be completed by Saturday.
The two faults have highlighted the importance of redundancy in the cable infrastructure, and of a clear and reliable agreement between operators to make that spare capacity available at short notice. The MCA has been working on regulations to cover this issue, Mr Micallef said, and a legal notice is being drawn up.
"Melita was not affected by the faults this year," a spokesman for the company explained. "We buy our bandwidth from Vodafone, so there was not impact on us."
The faults did, however, put a sharp focus on the value of Melita having its own cable, and of the ability to access redundant bandwidth on other cables when necessary. Melita is expected to have its submarine link installed and in operation during 2009 - providing Malta with a fourth connection to the outside world.
Vodafone did have spare capacity on its cable in December, mitigating the direct effects of the second fault. The period of disruption was further reduced when, despite delays caused by bad weather at the beginning of December, installation of Go's second cable to Mazara del Vallo was speeded up.
"It is difficult to quantify the cost of the interruptions to businesses in Malta," Philip Micallef, executive chairman at the Malta Communications Authority said. "The cost of the first fault in August could run into millions of euro, but getting a realistic figure is almost impossible."
The August failure happened during a business day, and with Vodafone's submarine cable operating at close to full capacity there was not enough bandwidth available for Go. "It takes a few days to increase the active capacity on a cable," Mr Micallef explained.
Much of the cost of the failure was in the form of lost business and revenue, and thus is not exactly quantifiable. Any estimate is based upon a projection based upon past performance during comparable time periods.
By the second fault in December, Vodafone had the capacity to provide Go with 300MB/s immediately, and more shortly after that. The timing of the fault in December hit at about 6.30 p.m., at the end of the business day - which meant that the immediate disruption to businesses was much smaller than in August.
Following the problems in August, Go and Vodafone reached an agreement on contingency plans in case of a submarine cable failure and the resulting disruption of international connectivity. By bringing the completion and entry into service of its second cable forward, Go managed to restore normality fast. Industry sources say that the new Go cable is still carrying all Go's traffic, because the damaged cable to Catania is still under repair.
"The December fault affected three or four different cables, and the accepted practice is that the cables carrying the greatest volume of traffic are fixed first," sources said. "The other cables carry trunk traffic from Asia and the Middle East - Malta's traffic is a lot smaller than that."
Repairs are currently under way, and are expected to be completed by Saturday.
The two faults have highlighted the importance of redundancy in the cable infrastructure, and of a clear and reliable agreement between operators to make that spare capacity available at short notice. The MCA has been working on regulations to cover this issue, Mr Micallef said, and a legal notice is being drawn up.
"Melita was not affected by the faults this year," a spokesman for the company explained. "We buy our bandwidth from Vodafone, so there was not impact on us."
The faults did, however, put a sharp focus on the value of Melita having its own cable, and of the ability to access redundant bandwidth on other cables when necessary. Melita is expected to have its submarine link installed and in operation during 2009 - providing Malta with a fourth connection to the outside world.