|
 |
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.
Continued Growth and Investment
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 fibre optic cable.
Cable & Wireless has invested over US$20 million in the Maya 1 fibre
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 fibre 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 fibre optic cables landing at its shores.
The Cayman Jamaica Fibre System (CJFS) already links Grand Cayman and Cayman
Brac with Jamaica, and, via interconnecting cables, to the rest of the world.
Product and Service Choices
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 Services
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.
Internet Services
Cable & Wireless saw great developments in Data & Internet services
during 2001. The most significant developments were in the introduction
of new technology to the Cayman Islands.
Our data capacity off-island via Maya-1 was upgraded from 6MB to 45MB
in March 2001, to offer our Internet customers higher bandwidth and reduced
latency, which gave Cable & Wireless the capacity needed to offer
new services with higher bandwidth such as Broadband High Speed Internet
Services and to support potential e-Business customers.
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.
Business customers benefited from additional reductions in the cost of
high-bandwidth Direct Connect (premium dedicated Internet access) Internet
service, which was reduced in August 2000 by up to 60% and was again reduced
in June 2001 by up to an additional 60%.
Free Internet Technical Support services via the Cable & Wireless
Internet helpdesk was extended to 24 hours a day in May 2001 to offer
our Internet customers better Internet service during the hours they use
the Internet the most.
Voice Services
In the area of voice services, Cable & Wireless offers consumer service
packages for residential customers which offers customers significant
savings. The four SmartChoice Residential plans combine line rental with
call management features such as Voicemail, Call Waiting and Caller ID,
in addition to discounts on international direct dialed numbers. Customers
on a SmartChoice plan receive a 20% discount on up to six international
direct dialed numbers, depending on the plan they choose.
Follow the links below to find out more.
|
|
|