Cable and Wireless Cayman Islands
About Us
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 IslandsÌ 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 GlobalÌs 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 & WirelessÌ 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 ÏBÓ 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:
Ô E-business and other economic growth opportunities through increased bandwidth. Maya 1 will enable Internet-based businesses to expand within Cayman and internationally.
Ô The potential for lower cost international access. This will enable Cable & Wireless eventually to reduce further the prices of international telecommunications.
Ô The ability to better service clients and businesses in Latin America. This is an area of great potential for CaymanÌs offshore services industry.
Ô 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.
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