SECTION | PAGE ## TITLE FOR THE SPORT/ BUSINESS SKYBOX FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS ‘Tomb Raider’ reboot worth a look Alicia Vikander’s Lara Croft is strong and skilled B4 Rediscovering the magic of Pure Art There is no greater collection of local arts and crafts under one roof B6 Movies Theater Art & Culture ■ LIFESTYLE A big fish story Meet the chef who catches what he cooks. B2 CayFilm Festival accepting submissions Filmmakers are encouraged to enter their work before May deadline B5 To be, or not to be, a thespian The Cayman Drama Society offers new theater courses B7 STOLI FLAVOURS2 for $ 56 Until 31 July STOLI FLAVOURS 2 for $56 Until 31 July Registered Merchant of CaymanGiftCertificates.com Fine Wine & Spirits TORTUGA® 15 stores island-wide & Mary Lou’s in Cayman Brac. For more information, please cal 949-7701. For the month of March (750 ml or larger bottles only) 20% OFF PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY CAYMAN WEEKENDER A big fish story EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 BEACH CHAIRS: WHERE DOES GOVERNMENT STAND? High of 83 Low of 73 Seas: Rough with wave heights of 4 to 6 feet. Small craft should continue to exercise caution over open water. ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 75 CENTS – FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 SEVEN MILE BEACH WATERFRONT WALKERS ROAD TOWN CENTRE PLAZA RED BAY NOW AVAILABLE OR New prisons boss: ‘The hotel is full’ BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com After 30 years in the Scot- tish prisons service and another two spent running the Turks and Caicos Islands prisons, interim Cayman Islands Prison Service Director Steven Barrett offered a direct assessment of the local jail Thursday. “Let’s be very blunt, the facili- ties built here are not fit for pur- pose,” Mr. Barrett said during an interview with members of the press in his new office. This statement was immedi- ately followed by the good news: “The Cayman Islands govern- ment has been extremely ac- knowledging and accepting of that fact,” he said. Mr. Barrett, 55, said addi- tional accommodations for pris- oners at Her Majesty’s Prison, Northward in Bodden Town have been constructed in a seemingly ad hoc fashion over the past de- cade or so, allowing the adult men’s prison holding capacity to go from 135 inmates to 213. However, as of this week, there were still more prisoners than Northward could accom- modate, forcing at least one COMPASS INVESTIGATIVE REPORT Cayman communications: From telegrams to broadband Telecoms industry has seen rapid improvement, growing pains over last 50 years KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com When former Cable & Wire- less CEO Tim Adam started his telecommunications career in the 1970s, much of the Cayman Is- lands’ tourism and financial sec- tors communicated with the rest of the world via “telex,” a net- work of machines that could send and receive text-based messages to each other. Such technology seems ar- chaic by today’s standards. Ac- cording to Mr. Adam, telex wires carried speeds of roughly 50 bits per second, allowing users to com- municate at the rate of roughly 66 words per minute. However, telex machines were a major improve- ment over what many local busi- nesses used before: telegrams transmitted via shortwave radio. Since then, everything has changed. In the 1980s, telex was replaced by fax machines and “in- ternational database access ser- vice” – a popular precursor to the modern internet – and both would eventually become outdated after the World Wide Web took off in the 1990s. Today, some of the same copper wires that transmitted 50- bit telex messages decades ago now carry millions of bits per second to residents. Newer, fiber- optic cables carry even more than that, pumping along speeds of 100 million bits per second (100 Mbps) and faster. Still, Cayman’s internet ser- vices – a vital piece to keeping the jurisdiction competitive in the global economy – have much room to improve. According to studies published in late 2017 by the U.K.-based re- search firms BDRC Continental and Cable.co.uk, Cayman ranks 39th in average internet speeds (13.15 Mbps) and a dismal 190th in average prices (US$175.27 per month) – though the local telecom companies dispute these studies (see sidebar on page 9). Moreover, Cayman faces dispar- ities within its own borders. While Jonathan Martin, technology op- erations manager for Flow (the descendent of Cable & Wire- less), said his company is experi- menting with delivering speeds of up to jaw-dropping 1 billion bits (one gigabit) per second, the parts of the territory where fiber- optic cable has not been installed – mostly the eastern districts – get only a small fraction of that speed. Fiber is generally required to de- liver speeds faster than 25 Mbps. Government is looking to change this situation soon. A con- sultation paper published in early March by the Utility Regulation and Competition Office (OfReg) proposes that each internet service provider must offer broadband internet – defined as download speeds of 100 Mbps and upload speeds of 50 Mbps – to the entire island. If that proposal becomes a legal mandate, internet providers would have three years to reach those benchmarks, according to the consultation paper. Going east Shortly after OfReg pub- lished its paper, Premier Alden McLaughlin proposed that govern- ment achieve universal broadband access by building its own fiber network in the eastern districts. The premier said this is nec- essary because the telecoms com- panies have been dragging their Logic technicians install fiber-optic cables near the immigration building in George Town. Government is aiming to have fiber installed throughout the whole territory within 18 months. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » Steven Barrett, the interim prisons director, speaks to members of the media at a press briefing on Thursday at his office in Northward prison. - PHOTO: BRENT FULLER PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 14 »2 LOCAL NEWS FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS 945-2290 • West Shore Center, Seven Mile Beach • 10am to 10pm Eat-in!Take-Out! ON THE Wood Roasted Marinated Chicken Mac & Cheese Honey Glazed Sweet Potatoes Tarragon Carrots Caribbean Style Cornbread $ 29.95 EASTER WEEKEND Government seeks court review in ministry hiring dispute BRENT FULLER bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands gov- ernment has requested that a court review a dispute sur- rounding a senior human resources hire made last year within the Ministry of Education. Acting Deputy Governor Gloria McField-Nixon con- firmed Thursday that a re- quest for judicial review was filed in the matter, but that no decision had been made as to whether the case would pro- ceed to a full court hearing. Ms. McField-Nixon said the government would not release the initial filing seeking judicial review be- cause the request to pro- ceed to a full hearing had not been ruled upon. The court records were not available for inspection at the George Town courts records office. The dispute, which has been taking place be- hind the scenes since Oc- tober 2017, involves a situa- tion where a non-Caymanian was hired to fill the role of ministry human resources director over two Cayma- nians who also applied for the job and who both scored higher during a panel in- terview for the position. The Caymanian ap- plicant who scored the highest in the interview took her case to the Civil Service Appeals Commis- sion on Oct. 23, 2017, stating that she should have been hired for the post over the non-Caymanian. She argued that the min- istry had “acted unfairly or in a biased manner” in making the hiring decision. The non-Caymanian had been the acting human re- sources director in the min- istry before taking on the job full time. On Dec. 20, 2017, the ap- peals commission, chaired by former Deputy Governor Donovan Ebanks, agreed that there was evidence that the ministry “acted unfairly to- ward the [Caymanian job applicant] during the selec- tion phase of the recruit- ment process.” The commission ordered that the Caymanian appli- cant be offered the post as of Feb. 15, 2018, and that she receive additional com- pensation for pay she would have received if she had been hired for the human resources job at the date it was first awarded, in late September. If that Caymanian ap- plicant did not accept the job, the commission or- dered, it should be given to the second most successful Caymanian who applied. If neither Caymanian ap- plicant accepted the job, it should be re-advertised, the commission said. Stating that the com- mission’s ruling in the hiring dispute was “unprec- edented” during his time in office, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson supported the ministry’s hiring de- cision and “signed off” on the non-Caymanian appli- cant’s employment. SATURDAY FUNDRAISER FOR CHARITY ACTS OF RANDOM KINDNESS AT SALTY’S Charity Acts of Random Kindness is hosting a com- munity barbecue and fun- draiser at Salty’s in Grand Harbour on Saturday. The event starts at midday and all funds raised will go toward ARK’s Cayman CASA project, which helps renovate unsafe housing for families in need. The charity is currently part way through a makeover of a home in George Town and needs funds to com- plete the job. Saturday’s event will in- clude games, music and raffle prizes. For more on ARK’s current Cayman CASA project, see Monday’s Cayman Compass or visit the charity’s Face- book page for information on how to donate or volunteer. Police seeking help in attempted abduction Police are making an- other appeal for help in the March 10 attempted abduc- tion of a young girl in the West Bay District. Detectives believe the child, who successfully fought off a man who she said tried to abduct her, had contact with several people near the time of the incident, between 3:30 and 4 p.m. They are hoping to speak with those people. Specifically, the detectives are looking for a man who was operating a car wash at the pond located near Bata- bano Drive, and another man that was walking past the Lake Shore Condos on Bonn- eville Drive, wearing a green shirt, white shorts, and socks and slippers on his feet. Both men were spoken to by the child during the time that she was away from her home, police said. Police also released a de- scription of the child, in a bid to jog the memories of people who may have been in the area at the time. She is a white female, under the age of 10 years old, with blonde hair. On the day of the incident, her hair was pulled back in a pony- tail and she was wearing a white sleeveless top and dark colored shorts, with slippers on her feet. Anyone who saw this child and made contact with her on the afternoon in ques- tion is asked to contact West Bay Police Station detectives Shane Ennis, 926-4588, or Teddy Mitchell, 936-1297. The Caymanian applicant who scored the highest in the interview took her case to the Civil Service Appeals Commission on Oct. 23, 2017, stating that she should have been hired for the post over the non-Caymanian. ROAD CLOSURES FOR GOVERNOR’S ARRIVAL The Cayman Islands Pro- tocol Office is advising mo- torists that some roads will be closed for the swearing- in ceremony of the new gov- ernor of the Cayman Islands, Anwar Choudhury, who ar- rives on island on Monday. Edward Street at Dr. Roy’s Drive junction will closed, as will Fort Street at the Edward Street and Albert Panton Street junctions. The roads are scheduled to be closed between 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Anyone who saw this child and made contact with her on the afternoon in question is asked to contact West Bay Police Station.The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 CAYMAN COMPASS • FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 info@hsa.ky • www.hsa.ky CaymanIslandsHSA HSA_Cayman • The only integrated healthcare system and healthcare provider serving all three Islands with a comprehensive range of services including inpati ent, outpati ent, specialist, dental and ophthalmology care • Locati on of the only two hyperbaric centers on Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac • The only Accident & Emergency Service providing 24/7 emergency medical care • The only Dialysis Centre serving the enti re populati on of the Cayman Islands • The only Blood Bank providing support to all inpati ent medical faciliti es on our islands • The broadest range of medical specialists in a single hospital system with more than 16 specialist services provided • The only on-site dental and eye clinics within a hospital system on island • The only internati onally accredited forensic laboratory in the Cayman IslandsThe islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will findtheirownway” More than five years after government vowed to crack down on unlicensed beach vendors, the Public Lands Commission is, literally, rearranging deck chairs rather than resolving underlying issues relating to these sorts of enterprises. This week, the Central Planning Authority approved plans to upgrade amenities at Public Beach – a good thing. The new plans call for volleyball and soccer courts, huts for beach vendors and designated spots for food trucks. Officials say they hope the new infrastructure will help control commercial activity on the beach. For years, residents and tourists have complained about the “carnival-type” atmosphere that reigns on Public Beach – with vendors hawking everything from beach chairs to umbrellas, Jet Skis to banana boats, as well as food and drink (and some say “smoke”). Additionally, complaints have been lodged about par- ticular vendors commandeering public cabanas, behaving rudely, and being deceptive and aggressive to reluctant potential customers. In the meantime, officials’ threats, pledges and promises to remedy the situation have grown steadily weaker. At first, officials said vendors without valid trade and business licenses would be faced with fines and prison time. Then, they said vendors would be provided with training and licensing. Now, they are about to build them huts. Confronted with a simple issue, rather than taking direct action – enforcing existing laws – officials and poli- ticians have adopted the most circuitous course imagin- able, and, in the process, managed to create yet another politically appointed body. When the Legislative Assembly passed the Public Lands Law last spring, it established the Public Lands Commission specifically to license and regulate beach vendors. At the time, then-Minister Kurt Tibbetts provided assurances the commission would oversee an inspection unit which would be responsible for regulating commer- cial activity in Cayman’s public areas and policing vendors who use Public Beach. Well … what’s happened since then, aside from the continuing expansion of vendor activity on Public Beach? Have inspectors been hired? Are they inspecting? Have guidelines been established? Has customer service and first aid training been conducted? Have licenses been issued? Etc., etc. In this scenario, the beach vendors, from our perspec- tive, aren’t “bad guys.” They might even be thought of as ambitious entrepreneurs trying to make a living by catering to palpable demand in the market. The constantly shifting sands of government’s remon- strations and regulations must be as frustrating for vendors as it is for beachgoers, nearby residents and, frankly, common sense thinkers. Here are some straightforward questions that government needs to address: • Are beach vendors required to obtain a trade and business license, in addition to whatever license the Public Lands Commission may issue? • Are vendors required to provide health insurance and pensions benefits, even if they are operating as “sole proprietorships?” • If not, what steps have been taken to exempt them legally from these requirements? • If vendors are to be exempted from these require- ments, will those “carve-outs” also be applied to other businesses, be they large, small or “micro”? And, if so, on what basis? • If certain businesses are exempt from providing health insurance, will the responsibility fall to CINICO (i.e., the public purse)? Beach chairs: Where does government stand? FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Who is ‘corrupt’? Is the just-fired Andrew McCabe (former number two and, at one point, acting di- rector of the FBI) corrupt? I would argue yes, even though we do not know the full extent of his alleged transgressions. Corruption, according to the Merriam-Webster dic- tionary, is “dishonest or il- legal behavior especially by powerful people (such as government officials or po- lice officers).” It usually involves one or more of the following: 1. Conflict of interest where of- ficials in power can use their positions for personal gain in an unacceptable manner. 2. Bribery where govern- ment officials accept money or other favors to make de- cisions to benefit those of- fering the bribe. 3. Cronyism, where the party in power gives government jobs to friends and supporters. 4. Si- necures, where jobs with sal- aries but no duties are given to friends or family. 5. Fraud, where an election is rigged by a variety of means, or where the government offi- cial engages in misrepresen- tation to protect him or her- self or others. We do know that Mr. Mc- Cabe attended and partici- pated in rallies and fund- raising events for his wife when she was running for the Virginia State Senate. In an election in which Vir- ginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, a close friend and supporter of Hillary Clinton, arranged for contributions in the hun- dreds of thousands of dol- lars to Mrs. McCabe, while at the same time Mr. Mc- Cabe was overseeing the in- vestigation of Secretary Clin- ton’s misuse of government emails, where she “got a pass” from the FBI. It is unambiguously clear that Mr. McCabe had a se- rious conflict of interest and also violated FBI guide- lines. Mr. McCabe was also part of the team, along with former FBI Directors Mueller and Comey, and others, that did nothing when the Rus- sians were funneling money into U.S. environmental or- ganizations, and arranging the uranium deal to ben- efit the Clintons. There is much more – but it is clear that Mr. McCabe and some other high-ranking officials at the FBI are Washington swamp creatures. The Washington swamp refers to the general cul- ture of corruption that per- vades the nation’s capital – whereby government offi- cials and bureaucrats, mem- bers of the media and busi- ness leeches work together to protect their own self-in- terests – including each other – at the expense of the tax- payer and public at large. Those in government who en- gage in corrupt behavior are emboldened by the knowl- edge that there are rarely truly independent authori- ties – agency review boards, courts, and judges – who will hold them accountable. So far, Lois Lerner, John Koskinen, Eric Holder, Lo- retta Lynch, Susan Rice and many others, including Hillary Clinton, appear to have gotten away with things that would land people in the private sector, like Martha Stewart, in jail. There are many members of the media who have incestuous rela- tionships with members of the swamp – friends, rela- tives, lovers, etc. – who will provide a defense, no matter how outrageous the offense. This past Saturday eve- ning, immediately after the McCabe firing, I sam- pled some of the cable news channels to see how the in- cident was being treated. Those defending Mr. McCabe (particularly on MSNBC) in some cases said Mr. Trump fired him (not true, even though Mr. Trump clearly wanted him gone), it was all political, and it had been done in a rush. But, it was a non-polit- ical body within the FBI that made the recommendation, and, as far as speed, some of us had been writing arti- cles for at least three years, exposing obvious wrong- doing by Mr. McCabe. There were also many tears shed by those concerned about him losing his pension, as if he had not engaged in major wrongdoing and was lucky not to be in jail. When you hear members of the media or other orga- nizations, including univer- sities, defending members of the swamp whose signifi- cant wrongdoing has been exposed – by giving out false information or ignoring the real facts – it is fair to ask yourself, why are they doing this? What is their agenda? Who is paying them? Are they also intellectually, morally or financially corrupt? One can and, in fact, is expected to say good things about friends, family members or allies who have been caught in wrong- doing without defending the bad behavior. Those who de- fend the bad behavior and not just the person, may well also be corrupt. The U.S. is not gener- ally viewed as a particu- larly corrupt country (Trans- parency International lists it as number 16 out of 180 countries on its Corrup- tion Perceptions Index), but, like virtually all countries, the biggest single source of corruption is government spending on programs that do not meet an objective cost- benefit test. The great curse of democ- racies is that millions lobby directly or indirectly through some organization they be- long to for more government spending for whatever. Poli- ticians buy votes for prom- ising one group of voters to take from another (usually smaller) group of voters and give it to the first group. Or as H.L. Mencken wrote, “every election is sort of an advance auction on stolen goods.” The result is a government that is larger than it should be to maximize the general welfare and economic growth. Unrestrained corrup- tion eventually kills both the economy and civil society. How many can say they are part of the solution rather than part of the problem? Richard W. Rahn is chairman of Improbable Success Productions and on the board of the American Council for Capital Formation. © 2018, The Washington Times, LLC. RICHARD W. RAHN H.L. Mencken wrote, “every election is sort of an advance auction on stolen goods.”The islands’ most-trusted news source 5 CAYMAN COMPASS • FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 6 LOCAL NEWS FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS applebyglobal.com We believe that charity begins at home At Appleby, we believe that charity begins with helping our own community. We believe we can make a difference. We are delighted to announce that we are now receiving applications for funding for our annual Charity Day, which will be held on Wednesday 28 March 2018. Eligible non-profits with an interest in child and family welfare, animal welfare and educational programmes may apply, and must demonstrate a genuine need for financial assistance. Learn more at applebyglobal.com/Caymancharityday. Deadline for receipt of application is 12:00pm on Tuesday 27 March 2018. Beach upgrades, slots for vendors approved JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Plans for upgrades to Public Beach, including vol- leyball and beach soccer courts, as well as huts for beach vendors and desig- nated spots for food trucks, were approved this week. Government hopes the new infrastructure, funded by the Dart group as part of the National Roads Au- thority agreement, will help control commercial activity that has become a persistent problem at the island’s main tourist attraction. The plans also involve additional landscaping around a grassy area for campers, close to the existing children’s park. The Public Lands Com- mission will manage the re- vamped attraction which in- cludes 16 slots close to the carpark for vendors of deck chairs, crafts and snorkel gear, among others. Speaking before the Cen- tral Planning Authority on Wednesday, Deputy Chief Of- ficer of the Ministry of Plan- ning Tristan Hydes said the plans would help deal with a number of issues, including vendors taking over the beach’s public cabanas for their stalls. Concerns were also raised by the public and the plan- ning board about the chaotic nature of the commercial ac- tivity at the site, including hundreds of deck chairs cov- ering the beach. Mr. Hydes said the new huts for vendors would confine them to a designated area. “We have had lots of com- plaints that vendors have taken over the cabanas and that is the reason these little stalls are so impor- tant,” he said. He added that vendors who rent deck chairs would likely be required to re- move their chairs from the site each night. He accepted this would be an inconvenience but said part of the aim was to re- strict the number of chairs at the site, which was getting out of control. “There are God knows how many chairs down there,” he said. “It is too many and we want to limit that.” He said the ultimate re- sponsibility for policies and procedures around the use of the beach lay with the Public Lands Commission. Rupert Vasquez, chairman of the commission, attended the CPA meeting as a visitor, but answered some questions from the board. He said the commis- sion could potentially have someone on site to en- sure vendors complied with restrictions. Government’s policy limits commercial vendors at the site to 16. Many of the ex- isting vendors have been grandfathered in to the new system but it is envis- aged that a requests for pro- posals process will occur as slots open up. Mr. Vasquez said the com- mission was concerned by complaints about vendors, including that some were telling members of the public they would have to rent chairs or move on. Under the new system, he said the Public Lands Com- mission had the authority to sanction vendors who did not play by the rules. “There are a number of vendors moving to and fro and it is impinging on the general public entertainment value,” he added. The commission will meet next week to discuss man- agement policies for the site among other issues, he said. Ken Hydes, Dart’s vice president of projects and community development, said the work, which will be carried out by Dart, was de- signed to create an improved public beach. The volleyball courts will move further inshore, cre- ating more beach space close to the ocean. A raised berm will create natural seating around the sports courts for tournaments. New restroom facilities will also be added as part of the plans. Mr. Hydes said the project represented a good case of private/public partnership to improve one of Cayman’s key attractions. “It is also a really good opportunity for the PLC to get to grips with some- thing that is of national con- cern,” he added. Residents at the Harbour Heights development close to the public beach were among the first to raise con- cerns about unlicensed ven- dors in the area. Bob Loverd was at the Central Planning Authority meeting Wednesday rep- resenting the Harbour Heights strata. He said he had previously described the area as the “wild west” but was encour- aged to see government and the planning board getting to grips with the issue. He hopes the management of the site will prove to be a blue- print for Cayman to deal with similar concerns elsewhere. “We have this huge test tube here in terms of what goes on in this space,” he said. “The public beach is so big and so important to the island that it can’t be ignored. The policies and standards articulated through this project could have a really positive influence on what happens across the island.” Vendors renting snorkeling gear or deck chairs will have a designated spot to do business on the new-look public beach. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAYThe islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 416 Shedden Road (across from Jacques Scott) • George Town (o) 943- 4402 • (fax) 943-4401 e-mail: reservations@savemorerentacar.ky Rent where locals rent, spend less and get more! Rent A Car Ltd SaveMore Check out our very nice fl eet. Low deposit requirements. Need to rent a car? RENT FOR A WEEK & PAY FOR 6 DAYS ONLY!!The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 • CAYMAN COMPASS Condolences can be registered at: www.churchillsfuneralhome.com We have been asked to announce the passing of Mr. Dugmore Elroy Wright of George Town, who passed away on Tuesday March 6, 2018. A Thanksgiving Service will be held on Sunday March 25, 2018 at 2:00p.m. at Bethel Refuge Apostolic Church 23 Devon Road, Prospect. Viewing will be from 1:00-1:45p.m. Interment follows at Prospect Cemetery. We have been asked to announce the passing of Ms. Opal Janice Godfrey of George Town who passed away on Sunday March 4, 2018. A Thanksgiving Service will be held on Saturday March 24, 2018 at 10:00a.m. at Elsmlie Memorial United Church, 48 Harbour Drive, George Town. Interment follows at Dixie Cemetery. We have been asked to announce the passing of Ms. Opal Janice Godfrey of George Town who passed away on Sunday March 4, 2018. A Thanksgiving Service will be held on Saturday March 24, 2018 at 10:00a.m. at Elsmlie Memorial United Church, 48 Harbour Drive, George Town. Interment follows at Dixie Cemetery. We have been asked to announce the passing of Condolences can be registered at: www.churchillsfuneralhome.com The family of the Late Charles A. Brown regrets to announce his passing on Friday, 16 March, 2018. Condolences can be registered at www.boddenfuneralservices.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page A funeral service will be held 3:00 p.m. Sunday, 25 March 2018 at Church of God (Universal). Viewing will be from 2:00 p.m. prior to the service. Interment will follow in Prospect Cemetery. collective feet in fulfilling their licensing requirements. All the telecommunications com- panies, besides Flow, have deadlines in their licensing agreements to expand their fiber networks across Grand Cayman and the Sister Islands, and those deadlines passed more than a year ago. “All these years, we keep struggling unsuccessfully to get [the telecom companies] to deploy the fiber they agreed to, so we’re going to abandon that approach,” Mr. McLaughlin said on March 16 in the Leg- islative Assembly. “We’re going to build the fiber network and we’re going to charge the li- censees for it.” But despite the licensing requirements, there are major logistical and economic re- strictions to expanding fiber networks through the entire territory, according to the tele- communication companies. Logistically, the telecom companies laying fiber – C3, Logic, and Flow – can either run cables underground or hang them on telephone poles owned by the Caribbean Utili- ties Company and managed by CUC subsidiary DataLink. Companies sometimes run their cables underground, leasing the infrastructure owned by Flow. However, that is about four times as costly as hanging the cables from tele- phone poles, so Flow’s com- petitors typically opt for the latter option. But even hanging wire from poles is a time-con- suming undertaking. DataLink CEO Sacha Tib- betts said that when his com- pany receives an application to hang a fiber wire on a pole, it must go to that pole and conduct a safety evaluation. This includes CUC linesmen making sure there is adequate space between the fiber ca- bles and the electrical devices on the poles. Sometimes, there is not enough space, which compli- cates matters, he said. Referring to the fact that Cable & Wireless had a legal monopoly on telecommunica- tions in Cayman until the ter- ritory liberalized in 2002, Mr. Tibbetts said, “All of the infra- structure was built quite some time ago when there was only Cable & Wireless, so there’s only space on many of the poles for one provider. “They can’t all go in the same space; there has to be separation between them. So now we have to either recon- figure the pole or in some in- frequent cases, we have to change the pole to a taller pole, which is quite an expensive undertaking.” Mr. Tibbetts said Data- Link also has to make sure the poles are designed for wind- loading, which entails making sure they can support the weight of the extra cables in the event of a hurricane or a high-wind storm. “If we go from one telecom- munication wire to four wires, that’s a lot more of a load,” he said. “The way you manage that is either thicker poles, or we can put poles closer to- gether – so we’d put a pole in the middle of two poles to help support the load.” This limits the number of pole applications DataLink can process to about 200 per month. At this pace, it would take more than four years for the company to process all the applications for the 10,000 re- maining poles C3 CEO Martin Bould said his company needs to hang fiber through all of Grand Cayman. “That’s the big thing. We’re not in control of our own des- tiny,” C3 owner Randy Merren told the Compass. “If we want to go there, we need permis- sion. It’s a timely process.” Logic CEO Rob McNabb agreed with Mr. Merren, telling the Cayman Compass that the delays in the fiber expansion cannot be pinned solely on the internet service providers. Along with being time- consuming, hanging fiber from poles is also costly. Mr. McNabb said fees for hanging fiber run around $1,000 per pole. This can make extending fiber to a lone home in a re- mote area of East End uneco- nomical, he said. Pending the outcome of a court case between DataLink and OfReg, the telecom compa- nies could soon be seeing lower fees associated with hanging fiber from poles. The dispute between Da- taLink and OfReg stems from the fact that DataLink charged telecom companies to reserve unused space on its poles since 2012. But last July, OfReg is- sued orders prohibiting Da- taLink from continuing to charge reservation fees, and to refund fees that have been charged in the past. DataLink challenged those orders in an application for ju- dicial review a month later. Da- taLink is seeking a court order to quash OfReg’s orders, and a suspension of those orders while the case is being liti- gated. The dispute is scheduled to be heard on June 4. OfReg officials declined to be interviewed for this story, but have said in the past that the issues surrounding the pole attachments are hindering the expansion of fiber. “The uncertainty around pole attachments is a leading cause of delays in rolling out fiber networks across Grand Cayman,” stated Alee Fa’amoe, OfReg’s telecommunications regulator, in August last year, after the judicial review appli- cation was filed. “Moving these issues forward will ultimately benefit the consumer, who has suffered long enough.” ‘We are building as fast as we can’ Despite all of those fac- tors delaying the rollout, the telecom companies insist they are making good progress in rolling out their networks. DataLink stated that it is processing applications for pole usage faster than ever, and Flow, C3 and Logic con- tinue to lay fiber. Mr. Merren said C3 has invested more than $20 million in its fiber project and has laid about 350 miles of cable so far. “We’re building as fast as we can,” said Logic’s Mr. McNabb. Flow, for its part, disputed government’s characterization that there are no fiber connec- tions in the eastern districts. Flow Interim Managing Di- rector Danny Tathum explained that Flow has “fiber to the curb” throughout Grand Cayman, due to its parent company, Cable & Wireless, installing fiber optic links for its telephone infra- structure in 1991. Basically, that means Flow’s network is fiber along the island’s major roads, with copper cables run- ning from exchange points to neighborhoods and other areas in the eastern districts. In some eastern areas, Flow even has extended the fiber from the curbs to the homes. “If you listen to the politi- cians speak – and they have no reason to know unless they ask – but they’ll say, ‘When are you bringing it to East End?’” said Mr. Tathum. “Well, we have it in East End for the cus- tomers that require the speed. On the Queen’s Highway, we have fiber connections for those customers as well. But it’s about demand. If the de- mand for bandwidth is reli- able, we expand.” Some telecoms officials also wondered whether govern- ment would be wise to pursue a fiber build-out to the entire island when technological ad- vances such as 5G – wireless internet delivered over the elec- tromagnetic spectrum rather than through cables – could be coming soon. Both Flow and Digicel told the Compass that they are se- riously looking into providing 5G technology. Flow Technology Operations Manager Jonathan Martin stated that 5G would revolu- tionize Wi-Fi, saying that com- paring current 4G technology to 5G is like comparing dial-up internet to broadband. Nevertheless, government and some residents are dissat- isfied with the progress, and are impatient to wait for future technology. Mr. McLaughlin said on March 16 that he wants OfReg to have universal service implemented within 18 months. Just how that will be com- pleted is not clear. OfReg pub- lished a press release on Thursday stating that the reg- ulator “has been formulating a plan and considering timelines for the installation of the [uni- versal service network] accord- ingly,” but does not provide any other details about the project. Currently, the regulator is in the consultation process of for- mulating a broadband policy, which will define the term broadband and set a target for licensees to make broadband available to all residents by a certain date. That consultation period ends on April 18, and is a pre- cursor to OfReg determining exactly how it will implement universal broadband service. “Once this new definition of broadband is finalised [as a result of the consultation], if we as the regulator feel, that the local providers are unable or unwilling to build out their networks to meet the speci- fied targets, OfReg is willing to leverage its powers under the [Utilities Regulation and Competition] Law to build a [universal service network] to achieve the desired end result,” OfReg stated in its Thursday press release, adding that it ex- pects to make a final determi- nation on this issue by the end of September. From monopoly to market If government indeed opts to build its own fiber net- work in the eastern districts, it would likely be the largest impact policymakers have had on the telecoms industry in more than 15 years, and would mark the latest sea change in how telecommunication services are provided in the Cayman Islands. Before there were mul- tiple telecoms companies com- peting for customers, resi- dents received their telecoms services from only one com- pany, Cable & Wireless, which held a government-sanctioned monopoly on the industry for nearly 40 years. But when jurisdictions throughout the English- speaking Caribbean began lib- eralizing their telecoms mar- kets in the 1990s and 2000s, pressure began to mount on Cayman to do the same. At the time, Cable & Wire- less was still in the midst of a 25-year licensing agreement that allowed it to maintain its monopoly in the territory until 2011. However, company offi- cials agreed to “sign away our exclusivity” after years of nego- tiations in July 2003. At the time, Cable & Wire- less officials painted their de- cision as something that would make both their company and the territory better off in the long run. “To be brutally honest, when you’re a monopoly for so long, you begin to think a certain way about your ser- vice, about your customers, about who you are in the grand scheme of things – and that has to change,” said Mr. Fa’amoe (now the regulator), who was then head of sales for Cable & Wireless, according to Compass archives from 2003. “We need to become more customer-ori- ented, we need to be more pro- active, and less reactive. And that’s the honest truth.” After the July 2003 agree- ment between government and Cable & Wireless was signed, a flurry of competitive activity began, benefiting consumers. In September 2003, West- Star – now Logic – began of- fering internet for sale, and by April 2004 Digicel, TeleCayman, and AT&T were offering phone services. That same month, Cable & Wireless announced rate cuts for its fixed-line tele- phone service. “The lowering of charges is the second price cut on inter- national calls made by C&W in just over four months,” states an April 6, 2004 edi- tion of the Compass, “this time around, shaving off 10 cents per minute for weekend calls generally with some selected countries being targeted for lower charges.” Some Cayman residents even carried two cellphones from separate providers. “I have two phones: one Cable & Wireless and one Digicel. It is cheaper to make overseas calls to Jamaica on Digicel. Cable & Wireless I use locally,” explained Terry Ebanks, according to a June 4, 2004 article in the Com- pass. “The reception from both companies is good, but it depends on what type of phone you have.” Competition and regulation However, not all business was conducted in the spirit of open competition. In February 2004, WestStar filed a complaint against Cable & Wireless with Cayman’s tele- coms regulator – then known as the Information and Com- munications Technology Au- thority – claiming that Cable & Wireless was overcharging it to use its internet infrastructure. “They charge us more than double what they would charge anybody else for that line,” then-WestStar Chairman Rod Hansen told the Com- pass at the time. A month later, the regulator would also prevent Cable & Wireless from slashing its mo- bile phone rates, deeming the prices cuts “uncompetitive.” Buyouts, mergers, and reg- ulatory disputes would per- sist over the next decade, with services steadily improving over that time. But when deadlines for 100-percent fiber coverage be- came overdue several years ago – Digicel, which has not laid any fiber, had a deadline of Dec. 31, 2015; C3 had a deadline of Dec. 12, 2015; and WestStar had a deadline of Dec. 31, 2014 – the regulator began warning that it may take a heavy hand to en- sure universal service. “Where the telecoms pro- viders cannot meet the obliga- tions they have under the terms of their licenses to take ser- vice to the outer districts and the Sister Islands, the ICTA has to consider other options that will finally deliver the promise of a liberalized telecommuni- cations marketplace and give customers more choices,” Mr. Fa’amoe forewarned in Feb- ruary 2016. “What we are con- sidering instead of individual license rollout obligations is Cayman communications: From telegrams to broadband CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 »The islands’ most-trusted news source 9 CAYMAN COMPASS • FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2018 CLEARANCE SALE DRESSES, JACKETS, SHOES, TOPS/BLOUSE, HAIR EXTENTION a lot more on sale come on over and check us out Shop #1 Barnes Plaza across from Roof Top MARCH 23 - 24 Cayman Orthopaedic Group Please call 945-8380 for appointments DR. VIR SENNIK, MD, FRCS(C) Orthopaedic Surgeon and Knee, Hand and Upper Limb Surgery will be at Unit #1, Smith Road Plaza Monday 26th March, 2018 to Friday 6th April, 2018 Dr. Neeraj Prasad Consultant Cardiologist To book an appointment, please call: 949-4309 Will be at Grand Harbour Medical from April 16th to April 20th, 2018 ARTISTA SALON is please to welcome JANETE (Hairstylist) to our Team . Call for appointment 946-9751. ARTISTA SALON is please to welcome JANETEJANETE to our Team . Call for appointment the concept of a universal ser- vice, which would provide cit- izens with potentially a menu of services, from any and all providers, no matter where they live in the country.” Just more than two years later, government has ap- parently opted to go all out in paving the way to uni- versal service. Companies – including Digicel, Data- Link and Logic – seem recep- tive to the plan. If implemented correctly, DataLink’s Mr. Tibbetts said, he believes a universal ser- vice in the eastern districts would be more efficient than having multiple telecom com- panies build out their net- works separately in a sparsely populated area. “There are only so many homes here, which means that there’s a limited amount of sales available for the service. If you have multiple providers putting up multiple networks, you’ve got a lot more costs involved, when one network could be sufficient,” he said. “So the universal service can make a lot of sense if it’s done correctly.” KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com To improve internet ser- vices in the Cayman Islands, government is largely focusing on improving local fixed-line networks, with Premier Alden McLaughlin announcing earlier this month that his administra- tion intends to install its own fiber-optic cables in the under- served eastern districts. But according to the territo- ry’s telecommunications com- panies, local fiber networks in Cayman are only a part of the equation of improving internet services here. Just as important are the subsea cables that de- liver trillions of bits between the territory and the wider world, telecoms executives say. Practically speaking, all of the data sent or received off- island – whether it’s by mobile phone or computer, over copper wires or fiber – ends up trav- eling via one of Cayman’s two undersea cables. With broadband require- ments doubling about every year due to the exploding popularity of products like Netflix, YouTube and What- sApp, the importance of subsea cables is continuously growing. Local telecom com- panies are now looking for ways to directly buy off-is- land bandwidth instead of re- lying on Flow, which has his- torically had a corner on this wholesale market. Flow’s parent company, Cable & Wireless, has been the dominant provider of subsea cable access since 1972, when it first completed the construction of a subma- rine cable link from Cayman to the Prospect Pen Earth Sta- tion at St. Thomas, Jamaica. That cable replaced a UHF radio link with Jamaica that had been in existence since 1967, and which had a ca- pacity of four telephone, two telegraph, and two telex cir- cuits, according to an ar- ticle in the March 1972 edi- tion of The Northwester, later known as The Nor’wester. The new cable had the capacity to be expanded to carry 120 simultaneous telephone cir- cuits, The Northwester article stated. Operating that cable was eventual (now former) Cable & Wireless CEO Tim Adam’s first job at the company, he said. “It enabled us to use these rudimentary methods of transmission,” Mr. Adam re- called. “Instead of transmit- ting it over radio, we shoved it down the cable.” The cable would last more than 20 years, until Cable & Wireless replaced it with fiber in 1996 – a US$28 million dollar project. Cayman would be hooked up to more fiber in December 2000 when Cable & Wireless connected to the Maya 1 cable, which runs from Southern Florida to various points in the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. While Cable & Wireless lost its monopoly on pro- viding telecommunications services to consumers in Cayman after the market lib- eralized in 2003 and 2004, the company continued to be the dominant player in providing subsea cable services, selling off-island broadband to the other providers. However, that could change soon. C3 owner Randy Merren said it is his company’s inten- tion to join Cable & Wireless in connecting straight to the Maya 1, which is owned by a consortium of more than 30 telecoms companies. “Right now, if we want to buy capacity, we have to ne- gotiate it through [Cable & Wireless],” Mr. Merren said. “We want to get into the Maya 1 cable to cross-connect into our cable system.” Another option for tele- communications companies could be the planned “Deep Blue Cable,” an ambitious plan by billionaire Digicel founder Denis O’Brien to lay a new, 7,456-mile subsea cable that will connect to 12 mar- kets, including Cayman, Ja- maica and Puerto Rico. The Deep Blue Cable’s website states that the com- pany hopes to begin manufac- turing and installing the cable in 2019 and 2020, respectively. That is good news for Flow’s competitors. “It will revolutionize the market because you’ll be getting additional capacity, and there will be competi- tion,” said Digicel CEO Raul Nicholson-Coe. “When you boil it down, we’re in the business of buying and selling megabits,” said C3’s Mr. Merren. “The more choice we have to buy those, it will ultimately bring down costs of internet ac- cess in Cayman.” Even Flow officials said they see the potential to ben- efit from having another subsea connection. “If the Deep Blue does come, we would probably be interested in buying ca- pacity from them, too, just to build resiliency and re- dundancy,” said Flow Tech- nology Operations Manager Jonathan Martin. WHERE DOES CAYMAN RANK? Telecoms dispute findings of studies KEN SILVA ksilva@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands ranks 39th and 190th in av- erage internet speed and price, respectively, according to studies published in late 2017 by the U.K.-based re- search firms BDRC Conti- nental and Cable.co.uk. However, local telecom- munications companies have told the Cayman Compass that their services are actu- ally much faster and cheaper than the studies state. The studies, which were published last November, estimate the average speed of Cayman internet to be 13.15 megabits per second (Mbps) and the average cost to be US$175.27 per month. Cayman’s speeds rank as the fastest in the Carib- bean, but lag behind off- shore competitors Singa- pore (55.13 Mbps), Hong Kong (27.16 Mbps), and Jersey (23.3 Mbps), the re- search firms concluded. The territory fares much worse when it comes to cost, the firms stated. Saint- Martin offers the cheapest broadband in the Carib- bean, with an average package price of US$20.76 per month, with the British Virgin Islands (US$146.05), Antigua and Barbuda (US$153.78), Cayman (US$175.27) and Haiti (US$224.19) at the most ex- pensive end, both region- ally and globally, stated firms BDRC Continental and Cable.co.uk. “I don’t think the studies accurately reflect what we’re capable of,” disputed Flow Interim Managing Director Danny Tathum, who said his company of- fers speeds of 15 Mbps for $106 per month. Likewise, Logic and C3 offer similar packages on their websites. “I laughed at the study because I wish I was making US$170 per customer,” said Logic CEO Rob McNabb. “We’re selling 5-, 10-, 15- Mbps packages – all under $100.” Here’s where Cayman stacks up compared to some of its regional and inter- national counterparts, ac- cording to the studies: AVERAGE PRICE PER MONTH 1. IranUS$5.58 19. Saint-MartinUS$20.76 43. Dominican RepublicUS$32.26 63. United KingdomUS$43.29 92. CanadaUS$54.24 98. JerseyUS$60.23 111. JamaicaUS$63.85 114. United StatesUS$66.17 181. British Virgin IslandsUS$146.05 190. Cayman IslandsUS$175.27 AVERAGE SPEED 1. Singapore55.13 Mbps 9. Hong Kong27.16 Mbps 14. Jersey23.3 Mbps 21. United States20 Mbps 26. Canada18.03 Mbps 31. United Kingdom16.51 Mbps 39. Cayman Islands13.15 Mbps 66. Jamaica6.6 Mbps 73. British Virgin Islands5.49 Mbps 93. Trinidad and Tobago3.28 Mbps CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 Cayman communications: From telegrams to broadband Subsea cables: Another means of improving internet service Deep Blue Cable Maya-1 Cayman-Jamaica Fiber System Cayman Islands Cuba Jamaica Puerto Rico Florida Dominican Republic This map shows the projected regional Deep Blue Cable project, along with the existing undersea cable connections serving Cayman. – MAP: CAYMAN COMPASSNext >