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Cable and Wireless (Cayman Islands)
Limited has been operating in the
Cayman Islands under Government
franchise since 1966. During its
years in the Cayman Islands, Cable &
Wireless has made substantial
capital investment in developing and
expanding services to keep pace
with, and contribute to, the
Islands’ economic development. Cable
& Wireless is a major global
telecommunications business with
customers in 70 countries and
consists of two core and
complementary divisions: Cable &
Wireless Regional and Cable &
Wireless Global. Cable & Wireless
Regional offers a full range of
telecommunications services in 35
countries around the world. Cable &
Wireless Global’s focus for future
growth is on IP (internet protocol)
and data services and solutions for
business customers. It has developed
advanced IP networks and value-added
services in the US, Europe and the
Asia-Pacific region in support of
this strategy. With its financial
strength and the capacity of its
global IP infrastructure, Cable &
Wireless holds a unique position in
terms of global coverage and
services to business customers.
Cable & Wireless’ businesses around
the world offer a range of services
spanning broadband data and Internet
services, fixed and mobile voice, as
well as interactive entertainment
and information. By the end of
December 2001, the Cable & Wireless
telephone system in the Cayman
Islands had amounted to 31,926
direct telephone lines.
International direct dialing is
available to over 200 countries via
a standard “B” satellite earth
station and fiber optic cable. Cable
& Wireless has invested over US$20
million in the Maya 1 fiber optic
cable system, which will link the
Cayman Islands to North, South and
Central America. In December 1999
the Cayman portion of the Maya 1
fiber optic cable was laid. By
December 2000, the cable became
operational for data traffic.
The new system brings several
benefits to the Cayman Islands. The
main ones include E-business and
other economic growth opportunities
through increased bandwidth. Maya 1
will enable Internet-based
businesses to expand within Cayman
and internationally. The potential
for lower cost international access.
This will enable Cable & Wireless
eventually to reduce further the
prices of international
telecommunications. The ability to
better service clients and
businesses in Latin America. This is
an area of great potential for
Cayman’s offshore services industry.
A significant increase in
reliability and resilience in the
event of a natural disaster. With
the addition of the Maya 1 cable,
Cayman, with its big business
demands in its small island context,
has two fiber optic cables landing
at its shores. The Cayman Jamaica
Fiber System (CJFS) already links
Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac with
Jamaica, and, via interconnecting
cables, to the rest of the world.
Fulfilling the financial community
and other commercial sectors'
expanding needs, Cable & Wireless
offers mobile telephone service,
Internet access, ISDN (a high-speed
data service), voice & fax mail,
facsimile, toll-free 800 service,
leased circuits, pre-paid calling
cards, Cayman Direct, many payphone
and card phone locations around the
islands, and a wide range of PBX
equipment for small to very large
businesses. Mobile telephone
service, introduced to Cayman 15
years ago, has been fully digital
since 1999. The digital wireless
service offers customers new
features, cost efficiency with
pricing package options, and
distinct improvements in call
quality and reliability. In 2000,
Cable & Wireless introduced pre-paid
Pay As You Go mobile service, which
allows customers to purchase mobile
service on a card-based pre-paid
system, without the need for credit
checks and billing. Also introduced
in 2000 was Mobile Mail short
messaging service, which gives
digital mobile customers the benefit
of receiving e-mail, news and stock
quotes on their mobile phones.
Mobile Originate Short Message
Service is scheduled to come on line
this year. This service allows our
customers to send and receive
messages on their cellular phones.
To further add to the range of
available mobile offerings in the
Cayman Islands, new roaming
agreements with North American
carriers allowed visitors to use
their personal mobile phones when
traveling to the Cayman Islands.
Outbound mobile roaming was offered
to local customers in 2001. Mobile
service quality was enhanced in
Cayman Brac in the latter part of
2000 with the construction of a new
cell site that provided greater
coverage to the western side of the
island. At the end of December 2001,
over 17,000 mobile customers were
connected. The Cayman Islands is
ranked among the top ten countries
in the world in per capita
concentration of mobile phones. In
May 2001 Cable & Wireless introduced
a new service to the Cayman Islands
- Broadband ADSL High Speed Internet
Services with three different
bandwidths and pricing plans. In
September 2001 Cable & Wireless
reduced the price of the ADSL Select
pricing plan by 33% and introduced a
new plan - ADSL Ultra which offers
High Speed Internet Access for only
$74 per month.
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