Thoroughly Modern Malta – Melita Furthers Malta’s Smart Island Vision with Carrier Wi-Fi

By Lisa Garza, Marketing Manager

I had the pleasure of visiting this vibrant island country while we were filming this video. The Republic of Malta sits in the Mediterranean south of Sicily and north of Libya, a strategic crossroads with a visible history that dates back to thousands of years BC. Some of the oldest standing temples in Malta pre-date the Egyptian Pyramids by a millennium.

What a joy, then, to experience the thoroughly modern nation that Malta has become, thanks in part to the vision of the telecommunications provider Melita. The name Melita itself reflects the long history of the country – thought to derive from an ancient Greek word for “honey-sweet”, reflecting a unique species of bees that are found in Malta.

Melita’s vision was bold. They determined early on to be part of the government’s Smart Island strategy to further economic development. In 2009, the cable operator recognized that convergence was the way to the future, and they added mobile services to their portfolio. Their goal was to offer seamless services to their customers whether at home or on the go, so they added Wi-Fi to the home and then expanded the Wi-Fi footprint outdoors with Cisco Universal Wi-Fi. Today you can jog in Tas-Sliema, enjoy a festival in the capital Valletta, eat out in St Julian’s, finish your day with a drink in Paceville, and experience high speed broadband throughout your day. In fact Melita has received international recognition for their Wi-Fi network. They are shortlisted for the Telecoms.com “Best Use of Wi-Fi” award. [Embed as quote] In Melita CTO Simon Montanaro’s own words, “We now actually have as much Wi-Fi traffic in less than a year than we had 3G over 4 and a half years.” Learn more about how carrier Wi-Fi has furthered Malta’s smart island vision in this video, Melita has deployed this modern broadband infrastructure while honoring the beautiful limestone architecture that symbolizes the country. Enjoy!

Tweet us @CiscoSPMobility to learn more about what service provider mobility products and solutions we have to offer.