Licence granted for rival telephone service

Maltacom could soon face competition after a Gozo-based telecoms operator was granted a licence by the Malta Communications Authority to provide a telecommunications service to the public.

But MaltaTel Ltd may not start offering its land-line services before May at the earliest until a number of sticking points with Maltacom are sorted out.

MaltaTel Ltd, part of the International Call Company Ltd, was offered the licence to operate earlier this week but is objecting to the "discriminatory" interconnection rates offered by Maltacom which it claims do not make business sense.

Telephone subscribers would eventually be able to make use of the MaltaTel service by dialling a four-digit number (normally 10, followed by two other digits), which would route the call to Maltacom's telephone lines.

When contacted, MaltaTel Ltd general manager Mario Gatt said the company was in a position to offer cheaper phone calls across the board. But he expressed his frustration that he was not being allowed to operate in what was meant to be a liberalised market, despite having all the knowledge and infrastructure in place.

Mr Gatt claimed that Maltacom was selling a three-minute call during the night to its customers at a retail price of 5c3 while the wholesale price offered to other operators was 39c.

The regulator wants to draw up an agreement between all operators within four months but it is little reprieve for MaltaTel Ltd which has already paid an annual licence fee of Lm20,000.

Mr Gatt has also alerted the European Commission about the matter, claiming that the authorities are violating the directive regulating access to electronic communications networks.

He said his company intended to publicise its tariffs on the media shortly.

MCA's chief of operations Joe Cuschieri said the authority was doing its utmost to ensure that the competition was sustainable. "This is a long process and tariff rebalancing is needed to ensure competition is maintained," Mr Cuschieri said.

Maltacom did not wish to comment about the issue for the time being.