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Today’s Newspaper
Cuttings
26th April 2013
Today’s news in the papers
DI-VE McLaren wins Queen’s Award for International Trade – Vodafone Direct Open day for Vodafone relatives and friends – Vodafone Direct
Vodafone helps maintain anti-malarial drugs in Tanzania – Vodafone CSR Direct
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes names its cyber security partner – Vodafone Direct
Gozo News Vodafone celebrates World Malaria Day with ‘SMS for Life’ – Vodafone CSR Direct
The Malta Independent
Vodafone Celebrates World Malaria Day – Vodafone CSR Direct
NO Boundaries, NO Restrictions, NO Limits...a Limitless promise from GO – GO Direct
The importance of being online – Melita Direct
Josanne Cassar Vodafone welcomes employees, family and friends at SkyParks – Vodafone Direct Vodafone celebrates World Malaria Day – Vodafone Direct
Maltastar Vodafone celebrates World Malaria Day – Vodafone CSR Direct
Malta Today
Go announces new ‘limitless’ mobile plan – Go Direct
Times of Malta
Vodafone opens office to extended family – Vodafone Direct Mobile phone turns 40 and we are addicts – Vodafone Direct
Caution on next-generation LTE mobile technology – Vodafone Direct
GO supports bicycle marathon – GO CSR Direct
GO ‘well placed’ to serve generous propositions – GO Direct
Bank Staff clean garden – HSBC Direct
Vodafone in the news
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: DI-VE.COM DATE: 23 APRIL 2013
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
McLaren wins Queen’s Award for International Trade Article By: di-ve.com news
McLaren Electronic Systems (MESL) has been awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2013 for its outstanding
achievement in international trade.
This is the company’s second Queen’s Award, having won an award for innovation in 2009 in
recognition of its development of leading-edge control and data systems. MESL sells its
electronics, software and components to a worldwide market with export sales up by more
than 60% since 2008.
The company is the Official ECU (engine control unit) Supplier to the FIA Formula One World Championship, NASCAR Sprint Cup and IZOD IndyCar series. All of the cars in these series are powered by electronics and software from McLaren.
MESL also sells products and systems to the automotive, aerospace and transport
industries. These include advanced hybrid and powertrain controls for high performance cars,
FAA approved engine controls for piston-engine aircraft and video and data systems for mass
transit systems.
McLaren has been competing on a world stage since it was formed 50 years ago in 1963. The McLaren Group makes race cars, iconic sports cars, electronics and software and continues to grow in many diverse and global markets.
This year, MESL is celebrating its twentieth year providing complete control systems to
Formula One.
The company has offices in Woking, UK and Huntersville, North Carolina, USA.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: DI-VE.COM DATE: 23 APRIL 2013
Managing Director of McLaren Electronic Systems Peter van Manen said: “We are delighted
to have been recognised in the Queen’s Awards for the growth of our international trade. We
are proud that our technology is at the heart of international motor racing and that are able to
translate it into other important markets. This is a wonderful endorsement for the reputation
of McLaren and British development and manufacturing and will help energise our strategy
even further to develop the business further in new markets and sectors.”
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: DI-VE.COM DATE: 23 APRIL 2013
Open day for Vodafone relatives and friends Article By: di-ve.com news
Vodafone Malta’s new offices at SkyParks Business Centre welcomed Vodafone employees,
their families and friends to roam around Vodafone’s new Head Office and learn about the
prospects, career development and benefits made available to Vodafone employees.
“This open day was organised in an attempt to show the people who are closest to our
employees the way we do things at Vodafone,” said Property Manager at Vodafone Malta
Antoinette Camilleri. “We wanted our family and friends to enjoy our new environment and
understand the way we are working in. With our new offices, having an open plan and the
idea of hot desking there is no boundaries between our teams and the modern centre provides
a friendly environment that is comfortable to employees and conducive to better corporate
communication and higher productivity.”
Over 100 visitors attended the open day at Vodafone’s new offices and had the opportunity to
tour the premises getting an insider look at the open plan environment and the brand new
settings, chill out and lounge areas, canteen, meeting rooms and state of the art multimedia
facilities and handsets on display in the reception area.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: DI-VE.COM DATE: 23 APRIL 2013
Children also had the opportunity to spend their day playing at the YoYo childcare centre
within the building.
The Vodafone Open Day was organised by the Red@Heart team members together with the
Property team.
CLIENT: VODAFONE CSR DIRECT MEDIUM: DI-VE.COM DATE: 24 APRIL 2013
Vodafone helps maintain anti-malarial drugs in Tanzania Article By: di-ve.com news
Vodafone is celebrating World Malaria Day today, Thursday 25th April with the SMS for
Life programme. This initiative helps save lives using everyday technology to improve the
availability of anti-malarial drugs in remote areas in Tanzania, East Africa.
The system, developed by Vodafone, sends automated SMS messages to healthcare staff at
clinics in Tanzania, which prompt them to check the remaining stock of anti-malarial drugs
each week. Using toll-free numbers, staff reply with an SMS to a central database system
providing details of stock levels, and deliveries can be made before supplies run.
SMS for Life has been rolled out to over 5000 clinics which covers every public health
facility in Tanzania and within 6 months, drug stocks were maintained, showing the potential
of this technology to deliver social good through lateral thinking by helping to ensure supplies
of life-saving drugs.
The mosquito-borne disease causes nearly one million deaths in Africa each year, mostly
among pregnant women and young children, and many people die because they simply lack
quick access to vital medication.
SMS for Life is a public and private initiative powered by Vodafone and led by the Medicines
for Malaria Venture and supported by Novartis Foundation, the Tanzanian Ministry for Health
and the Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation which uses a stock control system
that runs on text messaging and ensures that drug stocks are maintained.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: DI-VE.COM DATE: 24 APRIL 2013
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes names its cyber security partner Article By: di-ve.com news
McLaren Group has today announced that it will protect its most valuable information and
advanced technology from targeted cyber attack using the market leading Detica
CyberReveal® security product, delivered through its partnership with BAE Systems Detica.
McLaren Group, which includes Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, a world leading Formula 1
team, has rich and varied Intellectual Property (IP) that is vital to maintaining competitive
advantage and warrants advanced protection. Detica CyberReveal ensures this focus on
protecting the team’s IP, including its advanced automotive technology, as well as its partner
and commercial information against sophisticated targeted attacks on its information systems
and networks.
The engagement delivers significant benefits compared to traditional network security
solutions as Detica CyberReveal detects the most advanced and sophisticated threats that
other security tools cannot, whilst also providing the security analysts with far more detailed
context around cyber alerts than other technologies can provide. This enables Vodafone
McLaren Mercedes to make more informed decisions and to optimise its resources to deliver
greater operational efficiency and a more rapid response to priority threats.
Martin Whitmarsh, CEO of McLaren Group and Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren
Mercedes, said that “Information, regardless of ownership or nature, is always at risk of
compromise. Like many other organisations, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes strives to protect
its information assets and our use of Detica’s cyber technology has significantly reduced that
risk.”
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: DI-VE.COM DATE: 24 APRIL 2013
Martin Sutherland, Managing Director, BAE Systems Detica stated that “As security and
cyber threats increase, we are delighted to be supporting McLaren in this critical area. We see
too many companies still believing that traditional defences are enough to protect them from
targeted cyber attacks. The increased prevalence of these attacks has reached a level where
organisations must take positive action to protect sensitive commercial and customer
information, their intellectual property and business critical systems.”
CLIENT: VODAFONE CSR DIRECT MEDIUM: GOZONEWS.COM DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
Vodafone celebrates World Malaria Day with ‘SMS for Life’
Posted By Gozo News On April 25, 2013 @ 6:55 am In Malta News | No Comments
Vodafone is celebrating World Malaria Day today, Thursday, the 25th of April with the ‘SMS for Life’ programme. This initiative helps save lives using everyday technology to improve the availability of anti-malarial drugs in remote areas in Tanzania.
The mosquito-borne disease causes nearly one million deaths in Africa each year, mostly among pregnant women and young children, and many people die because they simply lack quick access to vital medication.
SMS for Life is a public and private initiative powered by Vodafone and led by the Medicines for Malaria Venture and supported by Novartis Foundation, the Tanzanian Ministry for Health and the
Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation which uses a stock control system that runs on text messaging and ensures that drug stocks are maintained.
The system, developed by Vodafone, sends automated SMS messages to healthcare staff at clinics in Tanzania, which prompt them to check the remaining stock of anti-malarial drugs each week. Using toll-free numbers, staff reply with an SMS to a central database system providing details of stock levels, and deliveries can be made before supplies run.
SMS for Life has been rolled out to over 5000 clinics which covers every public health facility in Tanzania and within 6 months, drug stocks were maintained, showing the potential of this technology to deliver social good through lateral thinking by helping to ensure supplies of life-saving drugs.
CLIENT: VODAFONE CSR DIRECT MEDIUM: INDEPENDENT.COM.MT DATE: 24 APRIL 2013
Vodafone celebrates World Malaria Day
Wednesday, 24 April 2013, 19:09
Vodafone is celebrating World Malaria Day today, Thursday 25th April with the SMS for Life programme. This initiative helps save lives using everyday technology to improve the availability of anti-malarial drugs in remote areas in Tanzania.
The mosquito-borne disease causes nearly one million deaths in Africa each year, mostly among pregnant women and young children, and many people die because they simply lack quick access to vital medication. SMS for Life is a public and private initiative powered by Vodafone and led by the Medicines for Malaria Venture and supported by Novartis Foundation, the Tanzanian Ministry for Health and the Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation which uses a stock control system that runs on text messaging and ensures that drug stocks are maintained.
The system, developed by Vodafone, sends automated SMS messages to healthcare staff at clinics in Tanzania, which prompt them to check the remaining stock of anti-malarial drugs each week. Using toll-free numbers, staff reply with an SMS to a central database system providing details of stock levels, and deliveries can be made before supplies run.
SMS for Life has been rolled out to over 5000 clinics which covers every public health facility in Tanzania and within 6 months, drug stocks were maintained, showing the potential of this technology to deliver social good through lateral thinking by helping to ensure supplies of life-saving drugs.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT DIRECT MEDIUM: JOSANNECASSAR.COM DATE: 23 APRIL 2013
Vodafone welcomes employees, family and
friends at SkyParks
Vodafone Malta’s new offices at SkyParks Business Centre welcomed Vodafone employees,
their families and friends were they had the opportunity to roam around Vodafone’s new
Head Office and learn about the prospects, career development and benefits made available to
Vodafone employees.
“This open day was organised in an attempt to show the people who are closest to our
employees the way we do things here at Vodafone,” said Antoinette Camilleri, Property
Manager at Vodafone Malta. “We wanted our family and friends to enjoy our new
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT DIRECT MEDIUM: JOSANNECASSAR.COM DATE: 23 APRIL 2013
environment and understand the way we are working in. With our new offices, having an
open plan and the idea of hot desking there is no boundaries between our teams and the
modern centre provides a friendly environment that is comfortable to employees and
conducive to better corporate communication and higher productivity.”
Vodafone employees, their families and friends were welcomed in the SkyParks Lobby by the
Red@Heart Team and by Vodafone’s Property Manager, Antoinette Camilleri and Property
Senior Executive William Borg.
Over 100 visitors who attended the open day at Vodafone’s new offices had the opportunity to
tour the premises and were provided with an insider look at the open plan environment and
the brand new settings, chill out and lounge areas, the canteen, the meeting rooms and the
state of the art multimedia facilities and handsets on display in the reception area. Besides
giving out merchandise to all those who attended, Vodafone also gave the children the
opportunity to spend their day playing at the YoYo childcare centre within the building.
Visitors then headed to the nearby restaurants where they enjoyed a nice Sunday lunch at
discounted prices. The Vodafone Open Day was organised by the Red@Heart team members
together with the Property team. Images of the event can be downloaded and tagged on
Vodafone’s Facebook page.
CLIENT: VODAFONE CSR DIRECT MEDIUM: JOSANNECASSAR.COM DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
Vodafone celebrates World Malaria Day
Vodafone is celebrating World Malaria Day today with the SMS for Life programme. This
initiative helps save lives using everyday technology to improve the availability of anti-
malarial drugs in remote areas in Tanzania.
The mosquito-borne disease causes nearly one million deaths in Africa each year, mostly
among pregnant women and young children, and many people die because they simply lack
quick access to vital medication. SMS for Life is a public and private initiative powered by
Vodafone and led by the Medicines for Malaria Venture and supported by Novartis
Foundation, the Tanzanian Ministry for Health and the Swiss Agency for Development and
Corporation which uses a stock control system that runs on text messaging and ensures that
drug stocks are maintained.
The system, developed by Vodafone, sends automated SMS messages to healthcare staff at
clinics in Tanzania, which prompt them to check the remaining stock of anti-malarial drugs
each week. Using toll-free numbers, staff reply with an SMS to a central database system
providing details of stock levels, and deliveries can be made before supplies run.
SMS for Life has been rolled out to over 5000 clinics which covers every public health
facility in Tanzania and within 6 months, drug stocks were maintained, showing the potential
of this technology to deliver social good through lateral thinking by helping to ensure supplies
of life-saving drugs.
CLIENT: VODAFONE CSR DIRECT MEDIUM: MALTASTAR.COM DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
Vodafone celebrates World Malaria Day
Thursday, 25 Apr 2013, 01:26
Vodafone is celebrating World Malaria Day today, Thursday 25th April with the SMS for Life
programme. This initiative helps save lives using everyday technology to improve the
availability of anti-malarial drugs in remote areas in Tanzania.
The mosquito-borne disease causes nearly one million deaths in Africa each year, mostly among
pregnant women and young children, and many people die because they simply lack quick access to
vital medication. SMS for Life is a public and private initiative powered by Vodafone and led by the
Medicines for Malaria Venture and supported by Novartis Foundation, the Tanzanian Ministry for
Health and the Swiss Agency for Development and Corporation which uses a stock control system
that runs on text messaging and ensures that drug stocks are maintained.
The system, developed by Vodafone, sends automated SMS messages to healthcare staff at clinics in
Tanzania, which prompt them to check the remaining stock of anti-malarial drugs each week. Using
toll-free numbers, staff reply with an SMS to a central database system providing details of stock
levels, and deliveries can be made before supplies run.
SMS for Life has been rolled out to over 5000 clinics which covers every public health facility in
Tanzania and within 6 months, drug stocks were maintained, showing the potential of this technology
to deliver social good through lateral thinking by helping to ensure supplies of life-saving drugs.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 21 APRIL 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Vodafone opens office to extended family
Vodafone Malta’s new offices at SkyParks Business Centre welcomed staff’s families and friends last Sunday.
More than 100 guests were hosted by the Red@Heart team and by Vodafone’s property manager Antoinette Camilleri and property senior executive William Borg.
“We wanted to show the people who are closest to our employees the way we do things here at Vodafone,” Ms Camilleri explained.
“We wanted our family and friends to enjoy our new environment and understand the way we are working. With our new offices, having an open plan and hot desking means there are no boundaries between our teams. Our office provides a friendly environment that is comfortable to employees and conducive to better corporate communication and higher productivity.”
The Vodafone team handed out merchandise to guests while children were able to play at the YoYo childcare centre within the building.
The Vodafone Open Day was organised by the Red@Heart team members together with the Property team.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 22 APRIL 2013
Monday, April 22, 2013 by
Kristina Chetcuti
Mobile phone turns 40 and we are addicts
Today’s sleek mobile phones are a far cry from the bulky things of 40 years ago. Photo: Truth Leem/Reuters
Martin Cooper at Taipei in 2007 with his 1973 DynaTAC, which
weighed about 1.5 kg. Photo: Rico Shen
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 22 APRIL 2013
Who would have thought that the sleek thing sitting lightly in the palms of our hands was once a bulky handset weighing more than three kilos?
Considering that mobile phones turned 40 this month, they have aged rather well.
On April 3, 1973, a Motorola employee – Martin Cooper – made a call in New York on a Motorola DynaTAC, a phone large as a brick. It was the first public mobile phone call on earth and lasted 20 minutes before the battery went flat, requiring 10 long hours to recharge.
Michael Bianchi, non-executive director at Vodafone and the man who brought mobile phones to Malta in 1989, said: “Nobody worldwide thought that it would be so successful at the time.”
A couple of years earlier, Mr Bianchi had been reading an article in The Telegraph about the recent technological fad involving ‘car phones’. “The idea was that these phones could be used while commuting,” he recalled. He corresponded with the companies mentioned in the article – via fax, “remember there was no e-mail at the time” – and one of them replied by return fax.
Nobody had any idea that it would change our lives so radically
At the time, everyone thought the car phones were no more than a craze.
“The forecast was that in England they would peak at about one million and I was told that in Malta it would peak at about 3,000 sales,” he said.
Several governmental meetings and a successful tender later, the island had mobile telephony, even before most other European countries, apart from the UK and Scandinavia. “Still, nobody had any idea that it would change our lives so radically,” he noted.
The company, which later morphed into Vodafone, was initially called Telecell.
“For a long while, it never crossed our minds to call a mobile phone anything but ‘Telecell’, as in: ‘Let me make a phone call in the middle of Republic Street so that everyone can see I’ve got a Telecell’,” Mr Bianchi recounted.
In the initial years, carrying a mobile around was a status symbol. “They were very expensive to buy, not just in Malta but everywhere in the world and tariffs were very high,” said Mr Bianchi.
At about nine inches long and with a heavy battery, the phones of the early 1990s were quite impractical to lug around. “They even came with a battery pack that you could strap on your shoulder to recharge while on the go,” Mr Bianchi chuckled.
In the early days, mobile phones were made for businessmen.
“I remember my mother carrying this box-like thing. I used to be so embarrassed whenever it started ringing,” said a member of a family that was among the mobile phone pioneers in Malta. “It was heavier than a bag of sugar,” she noted.
Meanwhile, the rest of us had to make do with telecards and coins and telephone boxes. But there was another breed of people who made active use of mobile phones early on: journalists.
“They were so expensive that, apart from businessmen and drug traffickers, I think us journalists were the only ones carrying them around,” quipped John Zammit, political editor at Medialink, who started out his career as a journalist with Radio 101.
In 1991, his radio station was one of the very first to equip itself with mobile phones but other stations soon followed suit.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 22 APRIL 2013
“At the time, competition between radio stations was rife and we would all rush on the scene of an accident to report, live, via phone-ins,” he said. They would be elbowing each other with the huge phones in hand so that the news reader at the studio would introduces them as: “Our journalist on site, reporting live”.
The quality of the sound was crackling but worse things could happen: “Half way through, mid-sentence, the phone battery would die, bringing our live broadcast to an abrupt end,” Mr Zammit laughed.
Journalists in newsrooms had a roster, taking it in turns to ensure that the company phones were charged constantly.
Mr Zammit recalled covering the 1992 election: “We were reporting live from the polling stations, which was really a big feat because in the previous election– a mere five years earlier – I did not even have a landline connection at home.”
Fast forward 20 years and, today, out of choice, people are opting not to install a landline because they are always reachable on their mobile phones.
According to the Malta Communications Authority, mobile phones now seriously outnumber the population with subscriptions topping 521,748 – a mobile and a quarter for every Maltese citizen, including newborn babies.
But mobile phones are more than voice communication now: you can text, take photos, play music and games, send e-mails, download maps, watch video clips and, in some cases, it even talks back to you.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013 by
Martin Debattista
Caution on next-generation LTE mobile technology
There is consensus among Maltese mobile operators that the time is not yet ripe to launch long-term evolution (LTE), the next-generation mobile communication technology also referred-to as 4G. Yet, two of them are positioning themselves to provide it when the time is right, while the third is taking a different route.
Mobile broadband will never be a full substitute to fixed internet
The fastest mobile speed available today in Malta is around 43Mbps over 3G and this is not yet nationwide. LTE provides speeds of 100 Mbps that support more data-intensive services such as high quality video, music streaming, mobile commerce, and mobile health services.
Customers can also expect faster response times making interactive gaming and video conferencing available through mobile broadband. More mobile devices will be able to simultaneously use mobile internet without compromising speed.
When speaking to i-Tech about the future of mobile services when he left the chairmanship of the Malta Communications Authority last December, Philip Micallef said:
“I would have seen the MCA taking a pro-active role, not in just making the frequencies available (which they already are) but in terms of sustainability. We already have had talks about the role of MCA as a facilitator for sharing things like radio network access, sharing of masts and other resources which cost money. We will have LTE, and it’s a question of ‘when’.”
According to the Maltese mobile operators, the ‘when’ depends on such factors as demand from customers and having handsets that are LTE-enabled.
“We will launch LTE when there will be a sufficient choice of devices and compelling services that will enable our customers to really benefit from 4G technology,” Vodafone Malta head of technology Andrew De La Torre said.
CLIENT: VODAFONE DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
“Our 3G network today is already capable of supporting speeds which can enable the real time delivery of high definition video content, so our customers are already able to access the richest internet content through their 3G smartphones.”
Go echoed this sentiment: “The switch to LTE will be prompted by the demand which, to date, is not sufficient to justify the investment, due to the low penetration of 4G enabled equipment. Therefore, the timeframes solely depends on the adoption of mobile internet in general and the proliferation of 4G capable device in particular,” a spokesman said.
But a representative of Melita had a slightly different view of the situation.
“LTE is typically deployed in large territories having a low population density and with considerable distances between town or city centres, thus rendering the delivery of fixed broadband services difficult and expensive. It is precisely for these reasons that operators look at wireless solutions, such as LTE, to achieve a higher service reach and acquire new market segments. This is clearly not applicable in Malta where all fixed operators deliver their services nationwide,” the official said.
“We also need to keep in mind that 3G technology is still unavailable to many handsets in the local market and therefore, the adoption of LTE as a mainstream technology is likely to take a number of years.”
Melita looks like it will be taking a different route from Go and Vodafone Malta and, unlike the latter two, it will stick to 3G and instead invest in wi-fi availability across the country.
Melita currently offers nationwide download speeds of up to 100 Megabits through its fibre power (DOSCIS 3.0) network and has already announced plans to roll out a wi-fi mesh extension of this same network to deliver similar ultra-fast download speeds wirelessly across Malta.
Taking cure from the words of the former MCA chairman, both Vodafone and Go see the MCA taking an important role in enabling the launch and sustainability of LTE in Malta.
“Any new technology represents a significant investment for mobile operators, and it is critical that the MCA focuses on creating a suitable environment which minimises deployment costs and provides an opportunity for operators to recover their investment. The MCA should continue taking a leading role in ensuring that operators are encouraged to share access to such assets, either through regulation or brokering of agreements,” Mr De La Torre insisted.
“To keep pace with this growth, mobile operators will need to continue to expand their networks – requiring both investment and the deployment of the infrastructure.”
Go has a similar view but would like the authority to stick to its regulatory function.
“Go believes that the MCA’s role in the supply-side of the market should be to remove possible legal, regulatory or other administrative obstacles for investors and operators to be able to easily launch LTE when market conditions dictate.
“In this context, the MCA has an important role to ensure that sufficient spectrum is made available at reasonable fees and that regulatory and planning rules are kept to the extent necessary to protect basic societal requirements. We do not think that it is useful for the MCA to take a more interventionist approach from the supply-side view.”
Yet, despite the promise of LTE, Go and Melita continue to invest in their fixed-line internet access networks.
“Despite these improvements, mobile broadband will never be a full substitute to fixed internet. Home internet users will continue to increase demand on the home network. A multi-user experience with streaming music, streaming video and other bandwidth-intensive applications can only be delivered reliably and flawlessly with DSL or fibre-based services. The demand from businesses on fibre-based internet services will also continue to grow,” the Go spokesman said.
Other stories in the news
CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: INDEPENDENT.COM.MT DATE: 2O APRIL 2013
NO Boundaries, NO Restrictions, NO Limits… a Limitless promise from GO Saturday, 20 April 2013, 17:35
Limitless is GO’s all-new hassle free range of mobile plans starting from 20€ monthly, which provides what is truly essential in a mobile plan… and more… much more.
Limitless gives customers infinite calling and texting to mobile numbers as well as the most generous data allowances to surf the web over Malta’s leading mobile network, offering the fastest speed up to 42Mbps and the best mobile internet experience. Home Pack customers are rewarded with substantial monthly discounts on their Limitless mobile plans.
Limitless 99 - the true definition of the word limitless. At €99 monthly this mobile plan includes limitless calls and SMS to all local numbers, a massive 8GB Mobile Internet allowance, 100 minutes for calls to EU networks and lavish roaming benefits to contact home whilst abroad. This plan is a travellers’ delight with 100 minutes, 100 SMS and 50MB of data every month while roaming in Europe. Limitless 99 customers are eligible for a free iPhone 5 with a 2 year agreement. In addition, they also enjoy privileged treatment. They automatically benefit from the new “Caller Priority” scheme, which gives them fast track treatment when calling GO’s 24 x 7 Customer Care. They also benefit from a new “Smartphone Care Pack”, which is exclusive to Limitless 99 customers. This scheme entitles customers to have their smartphone repaired without any charge or to benefit from a replacement smartphone in cases where the smartphone has had an out of warranty fault.
Limitless 60 comes with limitless calls and SMS to all local numbers and 4GB Mobile Internet for just €60 monthly. Limitless 60 customers may also benefit from a free Samsung S3 Mini with a 2 year agreement.
Limitless 35 gives customers limitless calls to all GO numbers and limitless SMS to GO mobile numbers. Moreover, Limitless 35 customers will benefit from 75 minutes and 75 SMS to all other numbers. The plan also includes 2GB Mobile Internet. A free Samsung ACE smartphone is available with a 2 - year agreement.
GO is also proud to introduce Limitless Flex, an innovative concept which gives customers total control over their spend. For €20 monthly customers get limitless calls to GO mobile, €10 credit to spend as they wish and 300MB Mobile Internet every month. Any unused credit is carried over from one month to the next. What happens if one runs out of credit with Limitless Flex? Simple –customers can easily top up at any time using any of GO’s existing top up mechanisms. With Limitless Flex
CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: INDEPENDENT.COM.MT DATE: 2O APRIL 2013
customers have the peace of mind that their monthly bill will not exceed €20. Limitless Flex is the truly no commitment - no strings attached - mobile plan.
Additionally, Limitless rewards all GO customers in a Home Pack community. Limitless is available to these customers at a monthly discount of €9 for Limitless 99 customers, €5 for Limitless 60 customers and €3 for Limitless 35 customers.
Limitless Flex is available now from all GO outlets while the rest of the Limitless range will be launched on 30th April. Customers can pre-register on go.com.mt to be among the first to enjoy the amazing limitless benefits.
CLIENT: MELITA DIRECT MEDIUM: INDEPENDENT.COM.MT DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
The importance of being online
Thursday, 25 April 2013, 11:32
The Malta Business Weekly interviews Ing. Antoine Sciberras, one of the speakers lined up for The Malta eBusiness Seminar
Many of our readers have years of experience in their respective business and they’re successful at it. For some years they have heard about the importance of being “online” but many are scared to leap into this as they don’t really understand it.
We interviewed Ing. Antoine Sciberras, who holds a business advisory role at Melita, and who, together with his team, assists business customers on a daily basis – from corner shops to multi-national companies – to put their business on the internet super highway.
What are the technology considerations that a business owner or manager should consider when taking a business online?
A good starting point is to understand that an online business runs on principles very similar to the traditional bricks-and-mortar retail business. First and foremost you
CLIENT: MELITA DIRECT MEDIUM: INDEPENDENT.COM.MT DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
want to make sure that your “shop” is as close as possible to your customers. A business owner also wants to ensure that his outlets can handle the traffic, especially when very busy, without affecting the customer experience.
So, when taking your business online it is important to choose a hosting provider, which would be referred to as a data centre or co-location service, that ideally stands as close to your client base as possible. If you’re operating in Malta, your clients will have a better experience if the website is hosted locally. The provider you choose should also be robust and large enough to handle your traffic – online visitors don’t have the patience to wait for minutes until your page loads. Everything needs to happen in less than seconds.
Ultimately it’s about delivering a quality customer experience which is fast as well as safe so as to maximise your revenue opportunity.
Is it just about the technology?
As always, the technology is an enabler. But you do need to make sure you choose a provider that can understand your requirements and provide you with a platform that enables your business, and does not inhibit it.
On the high street, you have to make shop windows as attractive as possible. Online, you use things such as videos, images and integration with social media like Facebook. The online consumer wants to have a fast and reliable interaction, an online experience which helps their purchasing decision. This experience also needs to be safe.
The provider you choose to deliver your services should have enough internet capacity and connectivity to deliver a smooth experience to the online user. The location where your data and that of your customers is stored needs to be secured and in a monitored and protected environment.
Do the technology decisions change if our readers are planning on exporting their business through use of online presence?
If you’re catering for an international audience you want their experience to be as quick and smooth as possible. In this case the operator you choose should have as big an international reach as possible and connected to the best “internet highways”.
CLIENT: MELITA DIRECT MEDIUM: INDEPENDENT.COM.MT DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
How does Melita fulfill these requirements?
Melita has been around for over 20 years now and continuously invests in its internet connectivity and infrastructure. In the last years we have seen the deployment of nationwide fibre-powered broadband ensuring ultra-high speed connectivity to the Internet with speeds of up to 100 megabits per second. This infrastructure ensures that there is always enough local capacity to ensure a smooth experience for your local online clients.
Similarly Melita has invested in state-of-the-art data centre services, which, coupled with nationwide fibre optic connectivity, are able to provide high resiliency to businesses seeking to fulfill business continuity and disaster recovery requirements. This also ensures that local customers get to your online presence as quickly as possible.
Melita is also connected directly in Milan to a Tier 1 international operator – Level 3 – just one of six in the world – ensuring a high-speed, low-delay connectivity that delivers an unparalleled experience.
These factors are coupled with the continuous presence of Melita’s business advisory team and years of experience in the field. Our team supports businesses throughout the complete relationship, starting off with the initial discussion about the company’s technical and commercial requirements through the delivery process and throughout the lifetime of the relationship.
About the Malta eBusiness Seminar
CSB Group and MIM (The Malta Institute of Management) have joined forces to co-organise the first Malta eBusiness Seminar. The event will be held at the Westin Dragonara Hotel on 2 May.
Businesses of all sizes in all sectors are using the internet in many different ways – to work with partners and suppliers, for procurement, for internal activities such as knowledge-sharing, new sales channels and new product development, among others. This seminar explores the benefits and challenges of ebusiness.
For more information about The Malta eBusiness Seminar, registration and sponsorship opportunities visit www.ebusinessmalta.com or contact MIM membership executive Nicola Mizzi on [email protected] or CSB Group marketing executive Diane Borg Bascetta on [email protected]
CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: MALTATODAY.COM.MT DATE: 19 APRIL 2013
Business Friday 19 April 2013 - 11:35
Go announces new ‘limitless’ mobile plan Limitless is GO’s all-new hassle free range of mobile plans starting from 20€ monthly, which provides what is truly essential in a mobile plan… and more… much more.
Limitless gives customers infinite calling and texting to mobile numbers as well as the most generous
data allowances to surf the web over Malta's leading mobile network, offering the fastest speed up to
42Mbps and the best mobile internet experience. Home Pack customers are rewarded with substantial
monthly discounts on their Limitless mobile plans.
Limitless 99 - the true definition of the word limitless. At €99 monthly this mobile plan includes
limitless calls and SMS to all local numbers, a massive 8GB Mobile Internet allowance, 100 minutes
for calls to EU networks and lavish roaming benefits to contact home whilst abroad.
This plan is a travellers' delight with 100 minutes, 100 SMS and 50MB of data every month while
roaming in Europe. Limitless 99 customers are eligible for a free iPhone 5 with a 2 year agreement. In
addition, they also enjoy privileged treatment. They automatically benefit from the new "Caller
Priority" scheme, which gives them fast track treatment when calling GO's 24 x 7 Customer Care. They
also benefit from a new "Smartphone Care Pack", which is exclusive to Limitless 99 customers. This
scheme entitles customers to have their smartphone repaired without any charge or to benefit from a
replacement smartphone in cases where the smartphone has had an out of warranty fault.
Limitless 60 comes with limitless calls and SMS to all local numbers and 4GB Mobile Internet for just
€60 monthly. Limitless 60 customers may also benefit from a free Samsung S3 Mini with a 2 year
agreement.
Limitless 35 gives customers limitless calls to all GO numbers and limitless SMS to GO mobile
numbers. Moreover, Limitless 35 customers will benefit from 75 minutes and 75 SMS to all other
numbers. The plan also includes 2GB Mobile Internet. A free Samsung ACE smartphone is available
with a 2 - year agreement.
GO is also proud to introduce Limitless Flex, an innovative concept which gives customers total control
over their spend. For €20 monthly customers get limitless calls to GO mobile, €10 credit to spend as
they wish and 300MB Mobile Internet every month. Any unused credit is carried over from one month
CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: MALTATODAY.COM.MT DATE: 19 APRIL 2013
to the next. What happens if one runs out of credit with Limitless Flex? Simple -customers can easily
top up at any time using any of GO's existing top up mechanisms. With Limitless Flex customers have
the peace of mind that their monthly bill will not exceed €20. Limitless Flex is the truly no
commitment - no strings attached - mobile plan.
Additionally, Limitless rewards all GO customers in a Home Pack community. Limitless is available to
these customers at a monthly discount of €9 for Limitless 99 customers, €5 for Limitless 60 customers
and €3 for Limitless 35 customers.
Limitless Flex is available now from all GO outlets while the rest of the Limitless range will be
launched on 30th April. Customers can pre-register on go.com.mt to be among the first to enjoy the
amazing limitless benefits.
CLIENT: GO CSR DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 21 APRIL 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Go supports bicycle marathon
Go has teamed up again with the organisers of the 50-hour bike marathon and had an intrinsic role in the organisation of the fundraiser last weekend. The event organisers were granted a wide range of services from Go, including digital TV installed on site and a high-tech donation lines system at St George Preca College, Boys’ Lyceum in Ħamrun – the base for the marathon, and a dedicated text messaging system. The marathon is organised by teachers, students and parents of the junior lyceum with the Association of Lyceum Past Students.
CLIENT: HSBC DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 23 APRIL 2013
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Bank staff clean garden
Twelve staff members from HSBC’s Qormi branch rolled up their sleeves to help the council clean up a garden in Ta’ Farsina. They removed the weeds, refurbished the area and filled some 20 garbage bags.
CLIENT: GO DIRECT MEDIUM: TIMESOFMALTA.COM DATE: 25 APRIL 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Go ‘well placed’ to serve generous propositions
Go has introduced four new mobile plans under its recently launched Limitless brand, promising no restrictions. It is the mobile operator’s latest initiative after it completed the overhaul of its mobile network late last year.
Part of its planned €100 million investment programme, the overhaul involved the complete replacement of the GSM and 3G radio infrastructure with state-of-the-art equipment. Mobile transmission sites have also been increased.
“Go is the only provider in Malta with a network of base stations linked via fibre, making it the most robust and resilient,” Go plc chief commercial officer Markus Golder explained. “It means we are able to cater for future demand, by placing Go’s mobile infrastructure capability at 3.5G- and LTE-ready.
“The future consumer mobile usage behaviour will put a heavy demand on networks and that’s where our new infrastructure excels. The typical mobile user wants limitless access to services and our new mobile packages address all these needs.”
Mr Golder said the two top products in this new proposition offer limitless calls and text messages: higher end packages, which are ideal for frequent travellers, include up to 8GB mobile internet and 100 minutes for calls to EU networks and generous roaming benefits. Limitless 99 customers are eligible for a free iPhone 5 with a two-year agreement.
Customers enjoy privileges such as priority treatment when calling the customer care centre and a smartphone care pack, including smartphone repairs at no charge or replacement handsets.
Customers may sign up to any of the Limitless packages with or without a fixed term agreement. The offers come with an optional one- or two-year contract which also includes an array of free smartphones, ranging from the new Samsung S5300 to the iPhone 5. Go’s Home Pack customers are also entitled to discounts on Limitless packages.