Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1238637
23.04.2020 9 OPINION 10 years on a battery without recharg- ing. But we also offer IoT connectivity based on 3G, 4G and soon LTE-M and 5G. In addition, we have invested in software tools helping companies to manage a large number of sensors, to connect them via APIs to their own corporate networks and to make the networks secure. e Internet of ings is a fundamen- tal technology to improve the efficien- cy of Businesses. Just a few examples: Imagine a company with refrigerating units. It is crucial to understand immediate- ly when the temperature rises above a certain threshold to avoid damage. Imagine you are a logistics company. You certainly need to know at all times where your containers are, if they have been opened or any inappropriate use has been made. Or imagine a pest control company operating rat traps across a large ge- ographical area. It is certainly a huge benefit when you know exactly with traps need to be cleaned rather than checking all of them periodically. All that is achieved with sensors connected to the Internet all the time. With relatively minor limitations and low additional effort we can offer the technology we develop in Malta also to Businesses located anywhere else in Europe. is in turn opens up great market potential to us. 2020 has been touted as the year 5G goes mainstream. While the COVID-19 pandemic might have unfortunately stolen some of the limelight from this technology, it looks that 5G will become part of our lives in the near future. The European Commission has said 5G "will be one of the most critical building blocks of our digital economy and society in the next decade", and has put in place a target for member states to start launching 5G services by the end of 2020. What are Melita's plans in this regard? What investments has it made in 5G, and is there a timeline for when the technology will start being tested and eventually rolled out to its customers? We have upgraded our entire mobile network, working with Ericsson to bring the most advanced mobile tech- nology to Malta. Our network is 5G-ready, however, the process of launching 5G depends on a number of factors including, of course, the regulatory process. 5G has the potential to bring about transformational change, and we are ready to play a key role in this aspect of the digital economy. Over and above the increased mobile data speeds which 5G will bring with it, what kind of difference do you see the technology making to the lives of the man on the street? And what will Melita's role be in this regard - even from the point of view of the wider improvements which 5G can herald, such as its envisaged role in enabling smart cities or remote surgery? I think the biggest changes we will see with the arrival of 5G will in fact be in the increased use of smart technologies within industry, particularly areas such as manufacturing and logistics, as well as in health care. On a personal level, smart technolo- gies will impact the way we travel and how we run our homes and do our shopping. Residential customers will immedi- ately experience the benefits of lower latency with 5G when they are us- ing their mobiles for activities such as high-quality video conferencing or gaming. Melita will continue to be an enabler, ensuring, as we do today, that we have the right infrastructure and product of- ferings in place so that our customers can make the most of new opportuni- ties and applications which will arise. The COVID-19 pandemic has placed a strain on broadband internet services due to more people being online at one go, with even streaming service giants like Netlix deciding to cut bandwith usage. Did Melita register an increase in bandwith demand in this regard? What this a challenge? What measures did Melita put in place to ensure its internet services remained uninterrupted despite the increase in usage? e way in which people in Malta use communications services has under- gone unprecedented change since the first Covid-19 case was confirmed lo- cally in early March. We have seen internet use growing by 70 per cent, as people stay at home, and use the internet more heavily, for more hours each day. Particularly striking has been the increase in upload usage of more than 10 times the trend – pri- marily due to video conferencing from home. We have seen increases across all our services with, for example, the num- ber of people watching TV rising 42 per cent and the number of fixed call minutes increasing by more than 60 per cent. At the same time, mobile call minutes grew 29 per cent and mobile data use grew 18 per cent. Despite this addi- tional demand on our services, Melita's networks continue to perform very well and we're proud to have completely avoided any congestion so far. We utilised contingencies and accel- erated our planned capacity upgrades, so even though we continue to expe- rience higher demands we expect to remain capable of delivering services reliably to all our customers. Looking to the future, how do you see Melita developing in the next years? Are there any company expansions - even abroad - currently taking place or planned in the coming years? Melita's story in recent years has been a positive one. Our customer base and market share have grown and we con- tinue to invest and work hard to ensure we offer the best possible service to our customers. We are focused on remaining a key enabler to Malta's future success and our strategy is firmly focused on mak- ing the investments needed to achieve this. Of course, the opportunities for growth in Malta are restricted by the size of the market so we also continue to see Melita Italia and the internation- al IoT services we offer through melita. io as key elements in delivering growth. future success 5G has the potential to bring about transformational change, and we are ready to play a key role in this aspect of the digital economy