MSIDA, MALTA (01/03/2000) - The electricity did not go out, the telephones still rang, ISPs (Internet service providers) continued to function and no one was reported to have died during the rollover. The dire disaster predictions were all fortunately proved wrong.
Apart from some very minor hitches, all major utilities reported no problems.
Hospitals and Malta's International Airport did not report any major problems either. With the exception of a brief overload of Vodafone's nationwide mobile phone network, the rollover was quite uneventful -- partying and celebrations apart, of course.
Around 1.5 million Maltese lire (US$3.64 million) was spent by the state last year to cater for any potential Year 2000 problems. An official Y2K Control Center became active last Thursday. It was set up in collaboration with the Maltese Government's Year 2000 task force, Challenge 2000, and the Armed Forces of Malta in order to cater for any emergency.
The center reported no problems, although some minor problems are expected to occur next Monday when the majority of businesses and corporations boot up their computers for the first time in 2000.