Telecommunications provider Melita will invest €50 million to deliver speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second over the next seven years, the company said on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference, Melita CEO Harald Roesch unveiled the company's roadmap to increase internet speeds across the country, bettering internet access by 10 times the current limit.

Currently able to deliver speeds up to 1Gbps – the equivalent of 1000Mbps – Roesch looked forward to the steps the company is taking at future-proofing the island’s internet access.

Melita will be investing €50 million into its networks over the next seven years to reach this goal.

“While we already offer exceptional connectivity, we are now working towards the next level of internet speeds,” he said.

However, Roesch noted that much of today’s technology is unable to utilise speeds higher than a gigabit per second, rhetorically asking the audience why such advancements are needed if they cannot be used.

“The reason is simple: by the time devices have evolved and new applications, such as AI, are more widely used, our network will be ready for the demands that will bring,” he answered.

Malta is currently a European leader when it comes to internet speeds as the country is the only EU nation able to deliver speeds of up to 1Gbps country-wide, according to the European Commission’s Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI).

However, while achieving 10Gbps speeds is the focus for the seven-year investment, Roesch emphasised that sustainability is a top priority for the company as they continue to invest in local NGOs while keeping the environmental consequences in mind.

“We want to shape our digital future, yet we want to do this while minimizing our impact on the environment.”

At the conference, a live speed test showed that the system in its current form is able to hit speeds of over 8Gbps using still-in-progress technology.

Equipped with a prototype modem and a laptop, Melita CTO Simon Montanaro showed off the company’s quick speeds using a publicly available speed tester, Ookla.

While the speed tester did not show a full 10Gbps speed, Montanaro explained that some of that data is used up when packaging the information users receive, comparing it to an envelope that adds weight to a letter. 

Although the system is hitting 10Gbps, the speed test shows the amount of data a user can access, effectively ignoring the data used up on the metaphorical envelope, he said.

Also present at the conference, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri highlighted the importance of higher speeds for various local industries.

Telemedicine has allowed doctors to communicate with patients unable to leave their homes while businesses are able to transfer large amounts of data thanks to high internet speeds, he said.

Meanwhile, other technologies such as 5G networks for mobile phones are “game changers,” he said, allowing people to access information and communicate without being locked to a specific spot.

“Let us all work together to ensure that these systems are available for everyone,” Schembri said, commending Melita's investment.