NEWS | Wednesday, 30 January 2008

Blueskies Scheme extended following complaints

Charlot Zahra

The Bluskies Scheme, through which people who do not have broadband at home can apply for broadband internet at the low price of €3 a month for a year, has been extended till 8 February following complaints from the public that they were unable to book over the weekend.
Applications are now available at Maltapost branches, the YMCA in Valletta, as well as from Bank of Valletta and HSBC Branches.
Applications are also available from primary and secondary schools for their pupils, the ST Microelectronics for its employees and from the Foundation for IT Accessibility (FITA), for people with a disability.
Speaking during a press conference on Monday, Minister for Investments, Industry and Information Technology Austin Gatt said 4,557 people applied for the scheme over the weekend in Malta and Gozo.
In a scene reminiscent of the Soviet Era, thousands of people queued as far as 5am in queue that ran from the upper half of Merchants Street to next to the Valletta Police Station at Old Bakery Street to register for this service on Saturday.
The minister described the initiative as an important one, adding that the government did not want anybody to be excluded from using broadband internet, accusing the media of misinterpreting facts in order to denigrate the Ministry’s initiative.
Gatt said: “We never said that we wanted any limits. The limits were first mentioned by Opposition spokesperson Leo Brincat and continued in some newspapers to give a negative outlook to this initiative.”
However it was Prime Minister Gonzi himself who confirmed last Saturday that there was an initial limit of 5,000 subscriptions.
Asked by sister paper MaltaToday about whether accepting applications on a first-come-first-served basis irrespective of the applicants’ income was going to disadvantage those people who are really in need, Gonzi had said:
“For the grace of God, our country’s economy is moving forward in such a strong manner that the Government is ready to consider that the limit of five thousand subscriptions is increased to a much bigger number.”
Every family should have this service to access eGovernment services, buy products and services online, and bank among other benefits. Although only 30 per cent of households had internet access in 2003, this had gone up to 58 per cent last month, Gatt said on Monday.
The majority of households hooked to the internet - 80 per cent - use broadband. But although the numbers are high, he said, the aim was for every household to have internet access.

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