Technology changes in the Noughties

It started with a whim. The new decade, one second past midnight on January 1, 2000, did not bring the global meltdown of computer systems as a result of the co-called "Millennium Bug". On the contrary, the new decade heralded 10 years of breathtaking advances in technology, and Malta was swept away, leading to the creation of the so-called "information society" in the process.

Let's go back to January 2000. Our average computer had a Pentium II or III processor with just 128 megabytes of RAM running on Windows 95 or 98 and we connected to internet through a 56K modem, most probably after 6 p.m. because of the telephone tariffs.

Then the only mobile operator in Malta made it possible to send and receive SMS and connect to internet through WAP. The lucky few accessed some web text on monochrome stamp-sized screens.

Few people published anything online because you had to learn HTML and design a website to get an audience. However, IRC chat and web-based fora were popular. There were no blogs, no Facebook, no YouTube and Google had just appeared. Amazon had been selling books for a few years but few Maltese dared to shop online.

Few of the Maltese media were on the web although a few radio stations had already started webcasting.

Yet the year 2000 was a watershed in the history of internet and ICT in Malta. That particular year witnessed the liberalisation of the mobile sector with the launch of Go Mobile in December and the launch of SMS and internet on mobile through GSM; the government made the first steps to offer e-government services; the first extensive e-commerce and privacy laws were enacted in Malta; the government budget for the following year had provisions for the installation of internet access in schools; Melita Cable introduced fast internet access over its cable TV network and Maltacom offered its ADSL fast internet access over telephone lines; and preparations were made for the launch of the Malta Communications Authority.

All the while the rest of the world was going through the so-called "dot com bubble burst", where thousands of companies that provided internet-based services went bust because of their unrealistic business practices.

The Noughties truly transformed Maltese society and its relation with technology. Just looking at what we had 10 years ago and what we have now will reveal both subtle and major changes in our lifestyles.

According to the Central Office of Statistics (the forerunner of the National Statistics Office, the NSO), in 2001 there were 41,962 internet subscriptions, almost all of them narrowband, i.e. dial-up and not broadband, i.e. ADSL or cable internet. By 2004 this had doubled to 80,629, thanks to efforts by the government to promote always-on fast internet access on broadband.

The year 2007 has a special place in the history of internet in Malta as for the first time the number of broadband internet subscriptions in Malta exceeded the number of narrowband (dial-up). It was June 2007 when the NSO reported that there were 43,671 narrowband and 46,881 broadband subscriptions. The latest statistics in hand, for September 2009, show there were 109,905, of which less than a thousand were narrowband.

The increase in mobile phone subscriptions is even more staggering. After 10 years or so of the mobile service in Malta, by March 2000 there were just 44,314 mobile subscriptions. With the launch of Go Mobile this exploded to 296,372 in 2004 and the number continued to rise, leading to another historical moment in 2009 when the number of subscriptions, 418,341, exceeded the Maltese population.

The launch of high-speed 3G and 3G+ internet access for mobile phones from 2006 onwards, the launch of the third national operator, Melita, and small mobile virtual network operators (MVNO), all contributed to this sustained growth.

Even in terms of the traditional medium that is TV, there were significant developments over the last 10 years. In 2000 viewers could watch TV either on Melita Cable, on analogue terrestrial or on satellite. The launch of digital terrestrial TV in 2005 provided more choice but created a situation where two competing companies won or lost rights to premium content such as football, thus compelling viewers to invest or divest in different TV access technologies at a cost. The problem is still with us in 2010 and we are still waiting for local high-definition TV, though Melita carried some tests.

The year 2008 can be considered as a watershed for Maltese TV as in the first months of that year the number of digital TV subscriptions (both cable and digital terrestrial) exceeded the number of analogue subscriptions (75,787 digital to 51,395 analogue).

Towards the middle of the decade we started hearing about SmartCity and the word "smart" became a buzzword for all advanced and well-thought technology-related initiatives in the country. The decade is out with more questions than answers on the future of the project, hit by the international economic crisis. But in the process there was a real drive towards digital literacy, creating a workforce to supply the new lucrative iGaming sector and a new breed of knowledge workers that depend 100 per cent on a device (computer or otherwise) connected to the internet.

The good old floppy disk is gone. The CRT monitors and TV sets are almost gone. MP3 players and iPods have taken over from CD players. Laptops are the machine of choice for computer users. Most users download movies, TV series and songs rather than rent DVDs from shops and watch trailers, video clips and home-made videos on YouTube rather than on TV. We're lost without our mobile phone. Most of us now live on internet or simply exist outside it.

We had our fair share of threats and challenges too. Our dependency on internet has increased to such a degree that if we are cut off for a few hours, like it happened in the last two years, we stand to lose a lot in social and economic terms. Privacy concerns have increased dramatically as we expose ourselves more on social networks; copyright issues ballooned as internet users got faster access speeds to download movies, music and software; online fraud has escalated pari passu with our increasing reliance on online shopping; online child abuse is yet one more challenge for parents and the authorities; not to mention viruses and hackers threatening our online serenity.

But would you rather go back to 2000 and be happy with the technology and resulting lifestyle of the time?

There's so much to remember, to tell and to analyse about the technological developments in Malta in the decade 2000-2009. i-Tech has commissioned a whole series of articles by local industry observers, experts and people in the field to take us down memory lane and make us realise how much we have changed, or stayed the same, over the last 10 years thanks to technology.