L-Istrina, fully supported by GO’s communications infrastructure
December is an especially demanding month for GO as the annual fund-raising L-Istrina approaches. The event sees the company mobilising a large team of employees, mainly from its technical department to set up the infrastructure required to handle the large volume of calls during the event.
“GO is a private telecommunications company. We are not compelled or obliged to support L-Istrina. We do it because we really believe in the value that it brings to the community and we want to do our part. Furthermore, the magnitude of L-Istrina necessitates a particular technical setup. Being the only company serving an end-to-end fibre network, GO is a natural match to service the fund-raisers’ very demanding technical requirements,” said Nikhil Patil, CEO GO.”
“If we had to quantify the value of GO’s support in terms of logistics, manpower and the technology provided, an approximate figure could reach over a quarter of a million. And this is not taking into account the cost of all the phone calls and text messages for which GO also waives the cost,” added Nikhil Patil. As in previous years, GO also donated €80,000 to L-Istrina but this donation is over and above the physical and logistical support that the company lends to the annual event.
Pierre Attard, manager of GO’s Fixed Access Corporate Services, today considered a veteran when it comes to the L-Istrina cam- paign’s logistical setup explained how this year’s setup required 220 telephone lines including donation lines, hot lines, pledge lines and transmission lines, as well as 15 ADSL lines for internet connections. Three direct fibre links and some 40 new telephone lines were added over previous years.
“All of this requires meticulous planning from site identification, to technology provisioning, to ensure that everything works perfectly on the day. The setup is usually ready four days prior to the event when we start carrying out daily tests of the systems while remaining ready for any eventual changes that happen even during the actual event. However, our work does not stop at the end of the event. My team continues to work throughout the night dismantling the network that was installed during the previous days,” Attard explained.
“L-Istrina’s success would not be possible without the generosity of the Maltese people who every year donate towards this worthy cause. However, at GO we enjoy the same sense of pride knowing that part of this success was enabled by our state-of-the-art technology and communication infrastructure and logistical support and a team of professionals who year in and year out continue to dedicate their time and energy for this worthy cause. This year was no exception,” Patil concluded.