As today’s corporate landscape increasingly depends on connectivity, understanding True Fibre technology is paramount. More important is knowing that True Fibre, with connectivity at the speed of light, represents the fastest and best cutting-edge technology science has to offer. GO is Malta’s only operator that is nearing completion of a True Fibre network that goes right into the premises, be it a home, office, or other dwelling, explains Ayrton Caruana, Chief Service Operations Officer at GO.
GO recently announced that 80 per cent of businesses are now covered by GO’s FTTH network. What does this mean more tangibly for Malta’s business community?
Due to the fact that True Fibre network goes right into the premises and straight to the connected modem inside the premises, businesses can enjoy the real benefits of end-to-end fibre connections. This means that irrespective of the nature of the business, the speed and stability of True Fibre, both in terms of upload and download capabilities, allows for increased productivity and efficiency. Employees can transfer large files faster, including multi-media content and data backups, with seamless real-time collaborations. This is particularly important given the shift to more online operations, remote work practices and engagement in online sales and support.
What about the actual infrastructure? Does this bring more reliability?
Compared to copper-based connections, fibre is less prone to faults, meaning more reliability and less downtime, especially for those businesses that rely on cloud-based applications for file storage, customer relationship management and other such applications. True Fibre can leverage advanced and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. These technologies require low latency and high bandwidth, which True Fibre connections can provide. In my opinion, what makes True Fibre an essential service for businesses is the fact that it can cater for any future connectivity demands as businesses continue to evolve.
One of your competitors recently announced a similar investment claiming that its seven-year project will eventually deliver 10 Gigabits. How does GO’s FTTH project differentiate from your competitor’s project?
Fibre can deliver connectivity at the speed of light, our current True Fibre network is already capable of delivering 10 Gigabit speeds and more – because this is the very nature of fibre technology. One may therefore ask why our products are capped at 1GB speeds. Essentially current usage patterns do not require more than 1Gigabit speeds especially given that the majority of customer devices do not support speeds beyond 1Gigabit. We therefore make the best and most efficient use of the network. But our network is now ready to support higher speeds when the customer demands it and in line with developments in devices. We are already catering to some business customers demanding higher speeds and we have the flexibility to offer bespoke solutions to their specific requirements.
Fibre can deliver connectivity at the speed of light
The pace of investment in Fibre access networks across Europe has been relatively slow, especially when compared to other regions in the world. Why do you think this is the case?
Rolling out a fibre network remains extremely costly. We have so far invested €100 million in this network, not to mention other substantial investments in underground infrastructure because of our long-term vision of connecting cities and localities in Malta. So, given the size of other countries, ours is at par with that of just a large city. Also, Malta being so small, the proximity of localities makes it easier for us to reach our customer base. To this effect, we have been working well with Authorities and Local Councils to place infrastructure concurrently with road projects and locality embellishment initiatives which enabled us to keep inconvenience to citizens as minimal as possible.
The business case has been particularly difficult to put together in countries that typically have high costs for new network construction, according to FTTH Council Europe where the main struggles to transition to fibre seem to be speed of deployment and lack of skilled technicians. Have you encountered similar challenges locally?
A quicker rollout of our Fibre network would have been more desirable but the intricate complexities of such a project must be understood to be appreciated. This is a project where literally every house, apartment and business has to be cabled up and connected to our different hubs across Malta which involves endless coordination with many different stakeholders and other complex challenges such as material sourcing, planning, civil works, and permits. And as you rightly point out, finding the right resources is also a global challenge, especially given that the future for telecommunications is end-to-end fibre connectivity, so may providers are aggressively ramping up such projects. It takes us at least four to six months to recruit, engage, and field-train people by our senior technicians who have over 25 years of experience.
Another major challenge to consider is the fact that we are rolling out a new network, while maintaining two other networks: our tradition copper network, and the existing True Fibre network. So, while rolling out the remaining parts of the True Fibre network, we occasionally hit a stumbling block such as an unplanned cut to the existing fibre network. In most cases, these are caused by third party contractors. In such instances, we need to reallocate resources to fix the damage to ensure that customers on that network are reconnected in the shortest time possible. This naturally causes unplanned disruptions in our rollout schedule.. Thankfully, we have learned a lot along the way and have developed new, faster, and more efficient ways of deploying fibre, which is why we are ahead of schedule with rollout completion set for the end of 2024.
While 80 per cent of businesses are now covered, 25 per cent of homes remain to be covered by GO’s FTTH project. Which localities remain to be covered?
By the end of this year, we will have closed Kirkop, Xagħra, Paola and Żabbar and works will remain ongoing in Qormi, Marsascala, Żurrieq, Mqabba, Żejtun, Marsa and Ħaż-Żebbug. Early next year we shall be targeting Birżebbuġa, Kalkara, Munxar, Mellieħa and Mġarr followed up by Marsaxlokk, Victoria Gozo, the Three Cities, Floriana and Valletta. This does not mean that we do not have any parts of these localities already covered with Fibre. It simply means closing area by area in these localities to finally reach nationwide coverage by the end of 2024.