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3 NEWS 26.1.2023 98.1 per cent of enterprises using internet Malta grants Albion Energy exploration study licence in contested areas A survey on ICT usage and e-com- merce in enterprises found that 98.1 per cent of enterprises employing 10 or more employees used the internet dur- ing 2022. During 2022, enterprises across all sur- veyed economic activities and size class- es registered high levels of internet use. A total of 68,608 employees used the internet for business purposes during 2022. Among these, 39,650 employees also accessed the internet via a mobile device provided by their employer. Remote access to enterprises' systems and security measures In 2022, 86.8 per cent of enterprises provided remote access to their em- ployees. Almost nine out of every 10 enterprises enabled remote access to the organisation's email system whereas seven out of every 10 provided employ- ees with access to documents. is surge in remote access increased the enterprises' exposure to ICT-related security incidents. To counteract such incidents, 93.2 per cent of enterprises implemented some form of ICT securi- ty measures on their own ICT systems. e most common security measures were authentication via strong pass- words (87.9 per cent) along with the creation of data backups in separate lo- cations (82.2 per cent). E-Commerce sales e national share of enterprises con- ducting sales through e-commerce was nine percentage points higher than the EU-27 average. In this regard, the number of enterpris- es engaging in sales through e-commerce increased by 2.9 percentage points over 2021 levels. In 2022, total turnover generated through e-commerce sales amounted to €2.2 billion. is showed a 7.1 per cent increase from the preceding year. During 2022, 81.8 per cent of the total turnover generated from e-commerce web sales was affected via the enter- prise's own website or apps. ICT specialists In 2022, 33.5 per cent of enterprises employed ICT specialists. Larger com- panies were more likely to employ ICT specialists, and in fact among those with 250 or more persons the share was of 84.4 per cent. e number of enterprises providing ICT specialists with further ICT-related training amounted to 18.3 per cent, with the larger enterprises having a higher prevalence of ICT-related training com- pared to smaller units. Chart 1. Maximum contracted download speed by enterprises 15.3 19.8 35.0 17.0 13.0 5.2 23.1 34.8 21.0 15.9 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Less then 30 Mbit/s At least 30 Mbit/s but less than 100 Mbit/s At least 100 Mbit/s but less than 500 Mbit/s At least 500 Mbit/s but less than 1 Gbit/s At least 1 Gbit/s enterprises with a fixed internet connection (%) download speed 2021 2022 E-mail system of the enterprise Documents of the enterprise Business applications or software of the enterprise Size class: 10-49 1,794 1,771 1,493 1,408 Table 3. Number of enterprises providing remote access via the internet by size class and main economic activity Size class/ Main economic activity Remote access Remote access to: 1 Maximum contracted download speed by enterprises KURT SANSONE ALBION Energy has been grant- ed an exploration licence by the Maltese government to carry out geological studies in two areas to the southeast of the islands. e licence is for offshore Are- as 2 and 7 over which there have been competing claims by Italy and Libya over the years. e two areas cover 18,000sq.km on a part of Malta's continental shelf that includes the Medina Bank. e government entered into a two-year exploration study agreement with Albion Energy Malta Limited with a possibility of extending it by a further two years, subject to an additional work programme. e Finance Ministry, which is responsible for oil and gas explo- ration, said in a statement that the work obligations for the first two years consist of geological and geophysical studies on exist- ing data. Albion Energy Malta is fully owned by Albion Energy Limit- ed owned by Tony Buckingham, who is no stranger to exploration in Malta. Buckingham had founded Heritage Oil that was awarded a concession to carry out stud- ies in the same two areas back in 2007. However, the company was asked to stop operations by the government after Italy laid claim to the area in 2015. Eventually, Buckingham sold Heritage Oil and despite having a site that was drill-ready, noth- ing ever came off it. e Maltese government has not said whether the disputes with Italy and Libya have been resolved. In 1980, Libya had sent gun- boats to stop oil drilling opera- tions in Area 2 after Malta grant- ed an exploration licence to an Italian company. Libya claimed the area for itself and the issue ended up in front of the Interna- tional Court of Justice. e court eventually ruled on where the median line between Malta and Libya stood but this was limited to a small area that did not extend all the way to the east. Italy had intervened in the court case because it also had competing claims to Area 2 and Area 7. Malta has signed a two-year exploration study agreement with Albion Energy for Areas 2 and 7 to the east of the islands

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