Malta coverage

What the Malta numbers mean

Two numbers matter and only one of them is the one every seller quotes. The typical speed, 71 Mbps, tells you what a good moment looks like.

The tenth percentile, 19 Mbps, is the one that matters. It is the speed in the worst tenth of the day, when the cell above the station is full and everybody around you is on it too. A country with a high median and a low floor is a country that works beautifully right up until the moment you actually need it.

If the trip depends on video calls or tethering, plan around the busy figure rather than the typical one.

What happens in Malta when the network is busy

Congestion is not a fault, it is a Tuesday evening. The question is what your eSIM can do about it, and for most travel eSIMs the answer is nothing: one wholesale agreement per country, one network, and no way out except buying a second eSIM from somebody else while standing in the street.

Here, Orbislo traffic runs over GO and Epic. When the network you are on degrades we move you to another one, mid trip, without you asking, and tell you afterwards rather than interrupting you at the time.

Mobile operators in Malta

• Epic: Epic was the top overall performer in the Malta Communications Authority's December 2025 benchmark of mobile quality, leading on voice calls and on data throughput.
• GO: GO came a close second overall in the Malta Communications Authority's December 2025 mobile benchmark, and second for both voice and data throughput.
• Melita: Melita ranked third overall in the December 2025 benchmark of Malta's three mobile networks, run for the Malta Communications Authority by the testing firm Systemics-PAB.

Older networks in Malta

• GO has announced that its 3G network in Malta is being switched off and asks customers to use 4G and 5G with VoLTE calling instead, so a phone that cannot make VoLTE calls may lose voice service on GO.

Network notes for Malta

• The December 2025 Maltese benchmark covered about 1,500 kilometres of drive tests across Malta and Gozo, plus walk tests in hard to reach areas, without the operators being told when testing would happen.
• The same benchmark found voice quality and call set up times improved across every region and operator compared with the previous benchmark, and tested calls over VoLTE while allowing a fall back to older networks.
• Mobile service in Malta dates from a first 1G call in 1990, with 2G networks deployed in 1997 and 3G launched by one of the operators in 2006, according to the Malta Communications Authority.