There was a time when we used to drive, at least some of us, to the bring in sites to dispose of some parts of our waste in the appropriate containers hoping that these will be recycled accordingly. It was already a good idea, although I think that waste should be tackled at source. We…
The Freedom of Choice
I am welcoming the news that the Maltese government is entertaining the deployment of open source software (OSS) in the Maltese public service. More and more European Governments and companies are considering to move parts of their applications to Open Source. Following this trend, the government shall revise its IT education strategy. In today’s world,…
Let us end roaming rip-offs for text messages abroad
The 2.5 billion text messages sent every year by roaming customers in the EU cost over 10 times more than domestic short messages (SMS), show figures released by the European Commission. Calls on the industry for self-regulation and voluntary reductions of roaming prices for text messages have not been answered. The European Commission will therefore…
Day time window on prepaid mobile phone recharges
Local prepaid mobile phone credits all come with different day time windows, forcing the consumer to credit their prepaid account once the day time window has expired. The consumer is purchasing a service from a mobile phone company, thus allowing her/him to spend x minutes on calls, data or SMS/MMS. This prepaid credit should never…
The Big Farce of MEPA
One of the duties of MEPA is to protect the health of the people. I am living amongst bakers in Qormi, of which several heavily pollute our direct environment causing health hazards to my family and myself. Since March last year, I have filed several police reports against these polluters, no action has been taken….
Bank of Valletta’s new e-commerce policy
The government is pushing local companies to use the internet for the reselling of services and goods. In Malta, only Bank of Valletta and HSBC Malta are offering e-commerce and card clearing services. Bank of Valletta has recently updated its e-commerce policy: * a monthly cap is introduced meaning that every transaction over the monthly…