GO, Malta's only quad-play telecoms provider, today officially inaugurated its latest quad-play retail outlet in Valletta from which customers can now get their mobile, telephone, Internet and television services under one roof. The outlet, the second of its kind following the opening of the company's first quad-play outlet in Birkirkara in June 2007, has been extensively refurbished and modernized and brought in line with GO's brand image.

GO Chairman Sonny Portelli, Chief Executive Officer David Kay, as well as Valletta Mayor Dr Alexiei Dingli officially inaugurated the new GO outlet, which is located in South Street. During the same event, GO pledged its support for the upcoming LifeCycle Challenge - 'Strait to Africa'.

Speaking about yesterday's submarine cable incident, which was caused by a third party Italian contractor in Catania, Mr Portelli said: "We apologise to the Maltese public for this incident which left many without broadband-related services, international voice traffic, and roaming. It was the first time that such an extensive outage occurred in these many years that the cable has been in place."

Mr Portelli added: "This incident confirms the strategic importance of the decision taken by the company's board of directors and which was announced in January of this year to invest in our own second submarine cable to Sicily which will have a totally different landing route and we will be utilising a different provider - Interoute. This project, which is estimated to be completed by the end of the year, is of national importance and will provide resiliency and backup in such instances. As a result, GO will be the only telecoms provider in Malta to have two submarine cables to mainland Europe, and our cables will constitute 50 per cent of the four cables mentioned by the government which should be up and running by 2010."

On behalf of the company, Mr Portelli thanked all GO personnel who yesterday were involved in restoring all services back to normal.

On the refurbished Valletta retail outlet, Mr Portelli said: "The initiative continues to enhance GO's customer experience. In itself, the outlet showcases the company's commitment to deliver top-quality service to its customers. We have seen how the first quad-play retail outlet in Birkirkara has been a major success. Likewise, we want to extend this quad-play experience to many more outlets in the coming months."

Commenting on the Valletta outlet, CEO David Kay said: "We are determined to match the expectations of our customers at every touch point. The initiative is in line with GO's efforts to streamline its retail outlets while conforming to the new brand identity."

"Now - more than ever before - our new identity reflects our objective of converging our businesses from an operational as well as a customer point-of-view. GO is Malta's only quad-play provider and our outlets are geared to offer our customers the ultimate experience with services and products that match up to their requirements - everything we do is 'Made for You'," Mr Kay added.

Mr Kay thanked all GO employees and contractors who were involved in the extensive refurbishment of the GO retail outlet.

Valletta mayor Dr Alexiei Dingli said: "Valletta's business community welcomes this project as it demonstrates once again the central importance that the capital has in the commercial development of the Maltese islands. We greet GO's latest outlet and we consider it to be a true example of how retail experience should be developed forward."

During the official launch, Sandro Gauci - GO's Senior Executive, Retail Sales and Channel Management explained the layout of the Valletta retail outlet. The outlet allows easy access to the various services' counters, and caters also for a dedicated payments section. Customers can experience directly the various services that GO offers, including the latest 3G/ 3.5G mobile handsets and wireless data cards, as well as the vast range of digital TV channels.

The opening hours too provide customers with ample time and flexibility to visit the retail outlet. In fact, the GO Valletta retail outlet is open Monday to Friday non-stop from 0900 hours to 1900 hours and Saturday from 0900 hours to 1300 hours. Mr Gauci said that GO Mobile's outlet at the Embassy Shopping Complex in Valletta will remain open, and will continue to cater for the ever-growing demand for mobile services.

"We are delighted to be in a position to offer our customers a range of quality services from one touch point - with a dedicated and professional customer service team to help out in identifying customers' telecom needs that best match up to their specific requirements," said Mr Gauci.

In addition, GO is providing all its four services from the Birkirkara (Psaila Street) and Qormi (PAVI Supermarket) retail outlets. Meanwhile GO offers a range of services including fixed line, broadband Internet and digital TV from its retail outlets in Balzan and Victoria, Gozo. For further information and a full list of GO's retail outlets and locations, customers can visit the website: www.go.com.mt or call Freephone 8007 2121.

GO and LifeCycle Meanwhile, during the launch of the GO Valletta retail outlet, a number of participants of the HSBC LifeCycle Challenge fund-raising initiative were present and received a donation from GO's Chairman and CEO. This year's challenge will see several cyclists covering more than 2,200 kilometres in four countries from Lourdes to Casablanca - via the straits of Gibraltar - all in ten days. The aim of this initiative is to raise funds for the renal unit at the Mater Dei hospital.

The Life Cycle Organisation was founded in 1999 to create awareness and generate support for patients suffering from end stage renal disease

Ms Alexandra Bonnici from the LifeCycle Organization thanked GO as well as the other sponsors contributing to this year's event: "In the past ten years, Lifecyle Organisation has donated a considerable sum of money. The money, worth of tens of thousands of Euros was donated to Renal Patients attending the Renal Unit at Mater Dei Hospital. Most of the donations were used to purchase equipment for hospital and home use. We are grateful to GO for its support."

Donations to Lifecycle can be made via blank SMS on 5061 7378 for €2.33, 5061 8927 for €6.99 and 5061 9219 for €11.65. Cheques or postal orders may be mailed to Life Cycle Org., c/o Renal Unit, Mater Dei Hospital, Malta. Direct transfers can be made to the HSBC (Malta) Account: 06 11 987 920 50 Bank of Valletta Account: 148 14 52 1017. For further information or for donations, one may also visit www.lifecyclechallenge.com.