Being a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea, Malta is located 80km south to Sicily, Italia.
Now, all the submairne optical fiber cables landing in Malta are connecting to Sicily, Italia and onward to the rest of the world. There are now 4 submarine cables connecting Malta and Sicily, GO-1 Mediterranean cable system, Italy-Malta cable system, Epic Malta-Sicily Cable System (EMSCS) and Melita 1.
GO plc is the leading fixed network operator in Malta, offers a wide variety of services to global carriers. GO plc is the major telecom partner to international financial institutions, global online gaming companies, multi-national organisations based in the centre of the Mediterranean, as well as the Maltese Government. GO Wholesale provides reliable voice termination services to all local operators in Malta and is the roaming partner of choice for the leading mobile networks worldwide. Publicly listed on the Malta Stock Exchange, the majority shareholder of GO is TT Malta Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tunisie Telecom.
GO operates Msida CLS for Italy-Malta cable system and St Paul’s Bay CLS for GO-1 Mediterranean Cable System.
The Italy-Malta cable system is a 238km cable connecting Msida CLS in Malta and Catania CLS in Sicily, Italy, ready for service in 1995. The Italy-Malta cable system is a bilateral system owned by GO and Telecom Italia Sparkle, and the first international subsea cable owned by GO. In 2017, GO and Sparkle upgraded the Italy-Malta cable system to support 100Gbps wavelength.
The GO-1 Mediterranean cable system is a 290km and 4-fiber-pair cable linking St Paul’s Bay CLS in Malta to Mazara del Vallo CLS in Sicily, Italy, ready for service in December 2008, with initial capacity of 2x10Gbps DWDM. GO partners with Interoute to land the cable at Interroute’s Mazara del Vallo CLS in Sicily, and connects to Interoute's pan-European network.
GO is building the LaValette cable system connecting Malta with France and Egypt, its 3rd submarine system and the first international connectivity in Malta to a country other than Italy.
Epic Communications Limited is the largest mobile network in Malta by number of customers. In November 2020, Monaco Telecom acquired Vodafone Malta for US$250 million and rebranded it as Epic.
Epic owns the Epic Malta-Sicily Cable System (EMSCS), formerly known as Vodafone Malta-Sicily Cable System (VMSCS), connecting Balluta Bay CLS in Malta and Catania CLS in Sicily, Italy. The EMSCS cable system is an unrepeatered fibre optic cable system initially providing a 2 x 2.5Gbps, ready for service July 2004.
Melita operates a mature and nationwide fiber optic network in Malta, operates Bahar ic-caghaq CLS for Melita 1 cable system.
The Melita 1 cable system is a 97km repeaterless submarine cable connecting Bahar ic-caghaq CLS in Malta and Pozzallo CLS in Sicily, Italy, ready for service in 2009. The Melita 1 cable system is the fourth submarine cable between Malta and Sicily.
Bahar ic-caghaq CLS is adjacent to Melita Data Center, the only purpose-built data center facility in Malta, built to Tier III specifications.