C & W Plans Massive Caribbean Development

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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.

See the article in its original context from August 1969.

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Telecommunications demand is growing so rapidly in the Caribbean that a massive development has been planned by Cable and Wireless (West Indies) Ltd. This is stated in the Annual Report and Accounts for 1968/9 of the Company published on Friday, August. 8th. Mr. A.A. Willett, Executive Director of Cable and Wireless with special responsibility for the Company's operations in the Caribbean, announced some weeks ago that C & W was planning to invest a further 74 million dollars in the West Indies. The Annual Report confirms the Company's policy to provide a new high quality system between the E. Caribbeanislands with capacity measured in terms of hundreds rather than in tens of circuits. It recognises that further considerable effort and capital will be required for the development of inland telephone systems for which C & W is responsible in the region. It also emphasises that the satellite Earth Station in Jamaica will be in service before the end of 1970 and that plans are already far advanced for two more satellite Earth Stations in the Caribbean. Note: One of these will be sited in Trinidad and will be owned and operated by a partnership company being established by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and Cable and Wireless to run the nation's external telecommunications.

The site of the second Earth Station has not been announced so far. The Company is negotiating the proposal with Government authorities. Due to the heavy capital investment to be undertaken by C & W in the Caribbean there will be a significant increase in the number of trained national staff at the Company's branches.

A considerable expansion of Cable and Wireless technical programmes throughout the Caribbean is being introduced in co-operation with the education authorities. There will be yet more opportunities for national staff to attend advanced courses in the U.K. The Company's accounts for the year ended March 31st, 1969, review the continued growth and use of high quality systems throughout the Caribbean. The extensive development programme which has been going on throughout the 1960's-more than EC$25,000,000 has been invested in the last three years alone is at last beginning to show results, particularly in terms of increasing turnover. This enabled the Company to pay a dividend - the first in history of Cable and Wireless (West Indies) Ltd for 5% on the issued share capital, an appropriation of EC $528,000 from an annual revenue of EC$21,538,065.

Expenditure for 1968/9 totalled EC$17,519,126. The Revenue Statement shows that the Caribbean is making more use of international and inland telephony and Telex. In part the increased traffic has been due to the expansions of national telephone systems. The report refers to new inland telephone systems opened in Dominica and St. Vincent and to the troposcatter system between Trinidad and Guyana which provides Guyana with a high-quality international outlet both to the Commonwealth and to world systems.