Maltacom Employees

The Malta Independent

Maltacom Employees

For expressing on objective opinion on the liberalisation policy for the telecoms sector the nationalist party media has again tried to put me in a versus position against Alfred Sant. I hold no position in or brief from the Labour Party and opinions I express are my own.` I do not clear them with anyone. I happen to be one of an apparently` rare breed who make up their own mind.

The truth is that my opinion also expressed concern as to the prospects awaiting Maltacom`s employees unless Government concretises its intention to assist Maltacom and provide tangibly `for their re-training and re-deployment. This bit, which is fully in line with Dr Sant`s criticism,` was conveniently disregarded by the PN media.

During the year I spent as director of Maltacom the share price tripled.` I feel I have served well the private shareholders who elected me and whom unfortunately I had to disappoint by not standing for re-election.` I also got to understand well the challenges and opportunities that await Maltacom employees.

Employees need security of tenure so they should demand and get a no forced redundancy guarantee. Beyond that rather than continue to seek consolidation of the structures which were supporting Maltacom`s monopoly status, employees should show willingness to accept change, to be more accountable for performance and to carry the company forward to compete in the new areas of opportunity that are opening up.

What Maltacom and its employees really need is for the Government to stop dragging its feet about issuing the licence and frequencies so that Maltacom enters the mobile telephony fray before the market continues` to be gobbled up the present monopoly supplier.

It is incomprehensible how the Regulator continues to neglect protecting the consumer from abuse of monopoly by the sole mobile supplier `whose quality of service is going down` far more rapidly than the` tariff reduction `allowed on the eve of liberalisation.` Only the urgent arrival of a second operator will deliver` what the consumer deserves. Considering the exponential growth in demand for mobile telephony the loss of monopoly will not cause traffic reduction to Vodafone on a scale which would demand its re-structuring. Certainly nothing on the scale of re-structuring required by Maltacom for giving up its monopoly on fixed line, data services and international gateway.

All other talks of many tens of millions in compensation we cannot afford is senseless. Available` resources need to be invested in re-training of Maltacom`s employees so that they can gallantly occupy a productive job even in a liberalised scenario.

Alfred Mifsud