Streamcast Technologies and Enemalta launch €75m investment in Malta

Enemalta and Streamcast Technologies signed an agreement to invest up to €75m in the global data centre market, starting with the development of a secure data hub at one of the Maltese company’s underground installations at Marsa.

Through this agreement, Streamcast will be using Enemalta’s underground facilities to develop a Tier 4 Data Centre, building on the sites’ inherent structural stability and security coupled with roundthe-clock stable and low temperature conditions. This investment will help Enemalta maximise the potential of its extensive underground infrastructure and international fibre optic connectivity.

Ing. Fredrick Azzopardi, Enemalta executive chairman, and Nimish Pandya, chairman, Streamcast Technologies, last Monday signed a memorandum of understanding to launch this investment, after several weeks of discussions, with the support of Malta Enterprise.

By the end of the year, Enemalta will be completing the necessary infrastructural preparations for this development. Streamcast ICT network engineers and technicians will soon be in Malta to coordinate the project with the support of Enemalta’s business development team. The servers and other equipment of the new data centre will be installed in one of Enemalta’s underground facilities at Marsa.

Following this initial pilot project, the agreement between the two companies also provides for knowledge-sharing and further studies with a view to extending this investment.

Streamcast Technologies is a leading private IP cloud operator, leveraging its globally patented technology to deliver next generation jitter-free, high-definition streaming services over ultra-low bandwidth. It currently powers wired and wireless operators to deliver on-demand video streaming, live events, VOIP and video chat to over 33 million users across India, south-east Asia and the Mena region.

Established in 1977, Enemalta is the leading energy services provider in the Maltese Islands, entrusted with the generation and distribution of electricity and the development of the national electricity distribution network. The company provides reliable and affordable services to over 400,000 customers, while developing efficient electricity infrastructure to meet the nation’s energy requirements. In recent years, Enemalta implemented major programmes to radically transform its electricity generation infrastructure, reinforce the distribution network, consolidate the quality of its services and achieve long-term financial sustainability through the diversification of its services and operations.

Upon signing the agreement for this new collaboration, Pandya, said: “The crystallisation of this relationship between Enemalta and Streamcast gives us an immense sense of happiness. I firmly believe that this is a unique partnership with lots of potential. The synergies emerging from our collaboration are going to be tremendously beneficial to the economy of Malta. We are proud to be a part of this development. Our new partnership with Enemalta ideally fits into the growth strategy of Streamcast.”

Ing. Azzopardi thanked Enemalta’s recently-launched business development team and Streamcast for working to establish this collaboration. “Today’s agreement is a blueprint for the future of our company. Securing the necessary resources to continue offering our customers efficient and reliable electricity services at some of Europe’s lowest tariffs is a tough challenge we need to overcome every day. Consolidating Enemalta as a lean and financially-sustainable enterprise means that we have to be creative and seek new ways of diversifying our operations and maximising the potential of our resources.”

“Today’s agreement will not be the last collaboration of its kind by Enemalta. Our business development team is in talks with several other local and international companies to continue diversifying our portfolio, not only in the global data centre market, but in other new sectors as well,” Ing. Azzopardi concluded.