Cable & Wireless
Encyclopedia
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC is a global telecommunication
s company headquartered in Bracknell
, United Kingdom
. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers. Its services include managed Voice
, Data
and IP
based services and applications across the UK, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Continental Europe and North America.
In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone
service to British Telecom (via subsidiary Mercury Communications
, merged into C&W in 1997). The company later offered cable TV
to its customers, but it sold its cable assets to NTL
in 2000.
Cable & Wireless Worldwide is listed on the London Stock Exchange
and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index
.
as the founder. In 1869, Pender founded the Falmouth, Malta, Gibraltar Telegraph Company and the British Indian Submarine Telegraph Company, which connected the Anglo-Mediterranean cable (linking Malta
to Alexandria using a cable manufactured by one of Pender's companies) to Britain and India, respectively. The London
to Bombay telegraph line was completed in 1870, and in 1872 the three companies were merged with the Marseilles, Algiers and Malta Telegraph Company to form the Eastern Telegraph Company, with Pender as chairman.
The Eastern Telegraph Company expanded the cable length from 8,860 miles on its founding to 22,400 miles just 15 years later. The Company steadily took over a number of companies founded to connect the West Indies and South America
, leading to a name change to The Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies.
With increasing competition from companies using radio communications such as Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company
, it was decided in 1928 to merge the communications methods of the British Empire
into one operating company, initially known as the Imperial and International Communications Ltd, later as Cable and Wireless Limited in 1934.
Following the Labour Party
's victory in the 1945 general elections, the government announced its intention to nationalise Cable and Wireless, which was carried out in 1947. While the company would remain in being as a government-owned company, continuing to own assets and operating telecommunication services outside the UK, all assets in the UK were integrated with those of the Post Office
, which operated the UK's domestic telecommunications monopoly.
In 1979, the Conservative Party
government led by Margaret Thatcher
began privatising the nationalised industries, and Cable and Wireless was an early candidate because of its history as a private company. Privatisation was announced in 1980 and done in in November 1981. Part of the privatisation included the granting of a licence for a UK telecommunications network, Mercury Communications Ltd, as a rival to British Telecom. It was established as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless.
In 1986, the US long distance industry was deregulated, and many new companies launched into the equal access market. A company called TDX Systems, based in Falls Church, VA, was one of these, with a footprint between Washington, DC and New York. TDX carried data (analog modem up to digital DS3), and built its own telephone switches at its engineering facility in Chantilly, VA. TDX voice switches, called "SSTs" (satellite switching terminal) were centrally controlled nationwide by Perkin-Elmer
mainframes in Falls Church, VA, and were some of the first long distance switches to utilize least-cost routing, follow-on account codes and PINs. For a short time TDX touted a position of being one of the primary providers of phone and data service for the World Trade Center.
By 1987, TDX was rapidly expanding its leased fiber network westward, and by mid 1987 Cable and Wireless Communications plc had completed its purchase of the TDX network. For most of the late eighties, the long distance company was named Cable & Wireless Communications, Inc, and the fiber/data business was named Cable & Wireless Management Services, Inc., until the two divisions were merged. The CWCI U.S. network expanded nationwide throughout the late eighties and nineties, serving all major and some smaller markets.
In 1997, Mercury was merged with three cable operators in the UK (Vidéotron
, Nynex
, and Bell Cablemedia and renamed Cable & Wireless Communications. Later that year Cable & Wireless bought a 49% of the Panamanian INTEL (Instituto Nacional de Telecomunicaciones): it is now the largest communications carrier in that country.
In 1998, MCI Communications
and WorldCom merged to create MCI WorldCom, the company's existing US subsidiary Cable and Wireless USA, Inc. purchased the MCI tier 1 backbone
in the U.S.
: prior to 1998 Cable & Wireless USA had merely operated a long distance telephone business and a small internet service.
The following year, in August 1999, Cable & Wireless Global was formed to build global IP and IP MPLS networks with a strategy to sell global IP services to corporates.
In December 2000, Cable and Wireless purchased Hyperlink-Interactive.
In November 2001, Cable and Wireless USA purchased bankrupt co-location
provider Exodus Communications
for $800 million dollars, the operations were merged with the previously acquired Digital Island
and renamed Cable and Wireless America.
In May 2002, Cable and Wireless purchased Guernsey Telecoms from the States of Guernsey
, and in November 2002 Cable and Wireless announced their withdrawal from the US corporate market. US telephone operations were sold to Primus Telecom
.
In March 2004, SAVVIS Communications Corporation purchased Cable and Wireless America for $155 million US via the Chapter 11 creditor protection process and assumed liabilities of about $12.5 million US and assets including the former MCI IP backbone AS3561.
In August 2005, Cable & Wireless bought Energis
for £674m as a reverse takeover in terms of management: John Pluthero was appointed from Energis to head the UK business with Francesco Ciao departing by April 2006.
In December 2005, Cable & Wireless cancelled its American Depositary Receipt
s programme, voluntarily delisting from the New York Stock Exchange
.
In February 2007, Cable & Wireless sold its web arm which focussed on systems for the UK government, the Web Technology Group
, and later in March sold its cabling business Allnet.
In September 2007, Cable & Wireless partnered with Content Guru to implement STORM, believed to be the largest interactive cloud-based platform in Europe, which would provide communications and data integration services to businesses and public sector organisations.
In October 2008, Cable & Wireless completed the purchase of Thus plc which is now known as "Thus, a Cable&Wireless business".
In November 2009, the Cable and Wireless plc Board announced its intention to separate the Cable&Wireless Communications Group and the Cable&Wireless Worldwide Group, reflecting its belief that the businesses had reached a position where they would deliver increased value to shareholders as separately listed companies.
On 26 March 2010, Cable & Wireless Communications
demerged as the former CWI Group business (Cable & Wireless International) from Cable and Wireless plc and was listed as a public company on the London Stock Exchange. Cable & Wireless plc became Cable & Wireless Worldwide.
On 28th June 2011, the board of Cable & Wireless Worldwide accepted the resignation of Jim Marsh and announced that John Pluthero, the-then Chairman, would become Chief Executive.(uk.reuters.com)
). However, with recent cable company consolidation it can no longer claim its position as the second largest UK fixed player. The fortunes of the international wholesale telecoms division of C&W UK is significant - accounting for over one third of UK revenues. Indeed, its international wholesale voice operation and European IP (AS1273) remain sizable, but commercially struggling.
Following acquisition of Energis
in August 2005, C&W strengthened its UK position but still have only half the Internet Access corporate market share of former incumbent (BT). Former CEO Francesco Caio publicly stated the aim of making C&W the preferred alternative to BT in the UK. John Pluthero, on his accession in the Energis management takeover, modified this to be the leading UK IP services company.
C&W also bought Bulldog Communications in the UK, providing it with an LLU
network as well as a consumer broadband
Internet service provider
. During aggressive expansion it gained a poor reputation for provisioning and customer service. Falling new sales and a strategy change led C&W to sell the brand and customer base to Pipex in September 2006. It continues to own, and wholesale on, the LLU capability.
Historically, Cable and Wireless has had a strong market presence in many current and former British colonies
where it provided local telephone service. It was awarded the 1996 Worldaware Business Award for its long term commitment to developing cable links in the Pacific region (especially Fiji
, Vanuatu
, Tonga
and the Solomon Islands). The company had a virtual monopoly
amongst the colonies in the Caribbean
region. In recent years, their market share has somewhat diminished with the dismantling of their regional monopoly and the introduction of more competition in the Caribbean, particularly from Irish-owned cellular multi-national, Digicel
. The company was also the main fixed line operator in Hong Kong
until the sale of Hong Kong Telecom to PCCW
.
The company's highly controversial long-term incentive plan (LTIP) is calculated on 10% of the company valuation and is claimed to pay out to senior managers, in fact the members of the LTIP are only the executive directors who for the year 2009/2010 share a £60 million bonus pool.
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s company headquartered in Bracknell
Bracknell
Bracknell is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bracknell Forest in Berkshire, England. It lies to the south-east of Reading, southwest of Windsor and west of central London...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers. Its services include managed Voice
Voice over IP
Voice over Internet Protocol is a family of technologies, methodologies, communication protocols, and transmission techniques for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet...
, Data
Data (computing)
In computer science, data is information in a form suitable for use with a computer. Data is often distinguished from programs. A program is a sequence of instructions that detail a task for the computer to perform...
and IP
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol is the principal communications protocol used for relaying datagrams across an internetwork using the Internet Protocol Suite...
based services and applications across the UK, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Continental Europe and North America.
In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
service to British Telecom (via subsidiary Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom which was privatised in 1984...
, merged into C&W in 1997). The company later offered cable TV
Cable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
to its customers, but it sold its cable assets to NTL
NTL Ireland
NTL Communications Limited was a cable television and Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service company in the Republic of Ireland. As of 2005 it was owned by Liberty Global Europe , having been divested by NTL...
in 2000.
Cable & Wireless Worldwide is listed on the London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange
The London Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located in the City of London within the United Kingdom. , the Exchange had a market capitalisation of US$3.7495 trillion, making it the fourth-largest stock exchange in the world by this measurement...
and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index
FTSE 250 Index
The FTSE 250 Index is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions to and demotions from the index take place quarterly in March, June, September and December...
.
19th century
Cable and Wireless traces its history back to a number of British telegraph companies founded in the 1860s, and cites Sir John PenderJohn Pender
Sir John Pender , British Submarine communications cable pioneer, was born in the Vale of Leven, Scotland, and after attending school in Glasgow became a successful merchant in textile fabrics in that city and in Manchester; where he had a warehouse in Peter street near The Great Northern Warehouse...
as the founder. In 1869, Pender founded the Falmouth, Malta, Gibraltar Telegraph Company and the British Indian Submarine Telegraph Company, which connected the Anglo-Mediterranean cable (linking Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
to Alexandria using a cable manufactured by one of Pender's companies) to Britain and India, respectively. The London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Bombay telegraph line was completed in 1870, and in 1872 the three companies were merged with the Marseilles, Algiers and Malta Telegraph Company to form the Eastern Telegraph Company, with Pender as chairman.
The Eastern Telegraph Company expanded the cable length from 8,860 miles on its founding to 22,400 miles just 15 years later. The Company steadily took over a number of companies founded to connect the West Indies and South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, leading to a name change to The Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies.
20th century
Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi was an Italian inventor, known as the father of long distance radio transmission and for his development of Marconi's law and a radio telegraph system. Marconi is often credited as the inventor of radio, and indeed he shared the 1909 Nobel Prize in Physics with Karl Ferdinand...
, it was decided in 1928 to merge the communications methods of the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
into one operating company, initially known as the Imperial and International Communications Ltd, later as Cable and Wireless Limited in 1934.
Following the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
's victory in the 1945 general elections, the government announced its intention to nationalise Cable and Wireless, which was carried out in 1947. While the company would remain in being as a government-owned company, continuing to own assets and operating telecommunication services outside the UK, all assets in the UK were integrated with those of the Post Office
Post office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
, which operated the UK's domestic telecommunications monopoly.
In 1979, the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
government led by Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
began privatising the nationalised industries, and Cable and Wireless was an early candidate because of its history as a private company. Privatisation was announced in 1980 and done in in November 1981. Part of the privatisation included the granting of a licence for a UK telecommunications network, Mercury Communications Ltd, as a rival to British Telecom. It was established as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless.
In 1986, the US long distance industry was deregulated, and many new companies launched into the equal access market. A company called TDX Systems, based in Falls Church, VA, was one of these, with a footprint between Washington, DC and New York. TDX carried data (analog modem up to digital DS3), and built its own telephone switches at its engineering facility in Chantilly, VA. TDX voice switches, called "SSTs" (satellite switching terminal) were centrally controlled nationwide by Perkin-Elmer
PerkinElmer
PerkinElmer, Inc. is an American multinational technology corporation, focused in the business areas of human and environmental health, including environmental analysis, food and consumer product safety, medical imaging, drug discovery, diagnostics, biotechnology, industrial applications, and life...
mainframes in Falls Church, VA, and were some of the first long distance switches to utilize least-cost routing, follow-on account codes and PINs. For a short time TDX touted a position of being one of the primary providers of phone and data service for the World Trade Center.
By 1987, TDX was rapidly expanding its leased fiber network westward, and by mid 1987 Cable and Wireless Communications plc had completed its purchase of the TDX network. For most of the late eighties, the long distance company was named Cable & Wireless Communications, Inc, and the fiber/data business was named Cable & Wireless Management Services, Inc., until the two divisions were merged. The CWCI U.S. network expanded nationwide throughout the late eighties and nineties, serving all major and some smaller markets.
In 1997, Mercury was merged with three cable operators in the UK (Vidéotron
Vidéotron
Vidéotron GP is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Currently, the company primarily serves Quebec, as well as the francophone...
, Nynex
NYNEX
NYNEX Corporation was a telephone company that served five New England states as well as most of New York state, except the Rochester area, from 1984 through 1997....
, and Bell Cablemedia and renamed Cable & Wireless Communications. Later that year Cable & Wireless bought a 49% of the Panamanian INTEL (Instituto Nacional de Telecomunicaciones): it is now the largest communications carrier in that country.
In 1998, MCI Communications
MCI Communications
MCI Communications Corp. was an American telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and ushered in the competitive long-distance telephone industry. It was headquartered in Washington,...
and WorldCom merged to create MCI WorldCom, the company's existing US subsidiary Cable and Wireless USA, Inc. purchased the MCI tier 1 backbone
Internet backbone
The Internet backbone refers to the principal data routes between large, strategically interconnected networks and core routers in the Internet...
in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
: prior to 1998 Cable & Wireless USA had merely operated a long distance telephone business and a small internet service.
The following year, in August 1999, Cable & Wireless Global was formed to build global IP and IP MPLS networks with a strategy to sell global IP services to corporates.
In December 2000, Cable and Wireless purchased Hyperlink-Interactive.
21st century
Colocation centre
A colocation centre or colocation center , is a type of data centre where equipment space and bandwidth are available for rental to retail customers...
provider Exodus Communications
Exodus Communications
Exodus Communications was an Internet hosting service and Internet service provider to dot-com businesses. It went broke, along with many of its customers, during the bursting of the dot-com bubble. It declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 and was purchased by Cable and Wireless in November...
for $800 million dollars, the operations were merged with the previously acquired Digital Island
Digital Island
Digital Island Communications is a 100% Kiwi owned business telecommunications provider based in Auckland, New Zealand. Winners of the Deloitte Fast 50 awards for "Fastest growing technology company" in 2008, and "Fastest growing telecommunications business" in 2007, Digital Island also placed...
and renamed Cable and Wireless America.
In May 2002, Cable and Wireless purchased Guernsey Telecoms from the States of Guernsey
States of Guernsey
The States of Guernsey is the parliament of the island of Guernsey. Some laws and ordinances approved by the States of Guernsey also apply to Alderney and Sark as "Bailiwick-wide legislation" with the consent of the governments of those islands...
, and in November 2002 Cable and Wireless announced their withdrawal from the US corporate market. US telephone operations were sold to Primus Telecom
Primus Telecom
Primus Telecommunications Group, Incorporated is an integrated facilities-based telecommunications services provider offering international and domestic voice, voice-over-Internet protocol , Internet, wireless, data and hosting services to business and residential retail customers and other...
.
In March 2004, SAVVIS Communications Corporation purchased Cable and Wireless America for $155 million US via the Chapter 11 creditor protection process and assumed liabilities of about $12.5 million US and assets including the former MCI IP backbone AS3561.
In August 2005, Cable & Wireless bought Energis
Energis
Energis Communications Limited, briefly Telecom Electric, or more usually just Energis was a 'technology driven communications company' based in the UK and Ireland...
for £674m as a reverse takeover in terms of management: John Pluthero was appointed from Energis to head the UK business with Francesco Ciao departing by April 2006.
In December 2005, Cable & Wireless cancelled its American Depositary Receipt
American Depositary Receipt
An American depositary receipt is a negotiable security that represents the underlying securities of a non-U.S. company that trades in the US financial markets...
s programme, voluntarily delisting from the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
.
In February 2007, Cable & Wireless sold its web arm which focussed on systems for the UK government, the Web Technology Group
Web Technology Group
Web Technology Group, better known as WTG, is a technology consultancy and solutions provider to the UK Public Sector, specialising in the design, build and management of secure, high value and complex web applications, based in London, UK.-History:...
, and later in March sold its cabling business Allnet.
In September 2007, Cable & Wireless partnered with Content Guru to implement STORM, believed to be the largest interactive cloud-based platform in Europe, which would provide communications and data integration services to businesses and public sector organisations.
In October 2008, Cable & Wireless completed the purchase of Thus plc which is now known as "Thus, a Cable&Wireless business".
In November 2009, the Cable and Wireless plc Board announced its intention to separate the Cable&Wireless Communications Group and the Cable&Wireless Worldwide Group, reflecting its belief that the businesses had reached a position where they would deliver increased value to shareholders as separately listed companies.
On 26 March 2010, Cable & Wireless Communications
Cable & Wireless Communications
Cable & Wireless plc demerged in 2010 into Cable & Wireless Communications and Cable & Wireless Worldwide. For the other former C&W plc business, see Cable & Wireless Worldwide...
demerged as the former CWI Group business (Cable & Wireless International) from Cable and Wireless plc and was listed as a public company on the London Stock Exchange. Cable & Wireless plc became Cable & Wireless Worldwide.
On 28th June 2011, the board of Cable & Wireless Worldwide accepted the resignation of Jim Marsh and announced that John Pluthero, the-then Chairman, would become Chief Executive.(uk.reuters.com)
Current
Cable & Wireless is the third-largest supplier of IP services to FTSE350 customers (behind BT and Verizon CommunicationsVerizon Communications
Verizon Communications Inc. is a global broadband and telecommunications company and a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average...
). However, with recent cable company consolidation it can no longer claim its position as the second largest UK fixed player. The fortunes of the international wholesale telecoms division of C&W UK is significant - accounting for over one third of UK revenues. Indeed, its international wholesale voice operation and European IP (AS1273) remain sizable, but commercially struggling.
Following acquisition of Energis
Energis
Energis Communications Limited, briefly Telecom Electric, or more usually just Energis was a 'technology driven communications company' based in the UK and Ireland...
in August 2005, C&W strengthened its UK position but still have only half the Internet Access corporate market share of former incumbent (BT). Former CEO Francesco Caio publicly stated the aim of making C&W the preferred alternative to BT in the UK. John Pluthero, on his accession in the Energis management takeover, modified this to be the leading UK IP services company.
C&W also bought Bulldog Communications in the UK, providing it with an LLU
Local loop unbundling
Local loop unbundling is the regulatory process of allowing multiple telecommunications operators to use connections from the telephone exchange to the customer's premises...
network as well as a consumer broadband
Broadband
The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device . Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times...
Internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
. During aggressive expansion it gained a poor reputation for provisioning and customer service. Falling new sales and a strategy change led C&W to sell the brand and customer base to Pipex in September 2006. It continues to own, and wholesale on, the LLU capability.
Historically, Cable and Wireless has had a strong market presence in many current and former British colonies
Crown colony
A Crown colony, also known in the 17th century as royal colony, was a type of colonial administration of the English and later British Empire....
where it provided local telephone service. It was awarded the 1996 Worldaware Business Award for its long term commitment to developing cable links in the Pacific region (especially Fiji
Fiji
Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...
, Vanuatu
Vanuatu
Vanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
, Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
and the Solomon Islands). The company had a virtual monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
amongst the colonies in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
region. In recent years, their market share has somewhat diminished with the dismantling of their regional monopoly and the introduction of more competition in the Caribbean, particularly from Irish-owned cellular multi-national, Digicel
Digicel
Digicel is a mobile phone network provider covering parts of Oceania, Central America, and the Caribbean regions. The company is owned by Irishman Denis O'Brien, is incorporated in Bermuda, and based in Jamaica. It provides mobile services in 26 countries and territories throughout the Caribbean...
. The company was also the main fixed line operator in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
until the sale of Hong Kong Telecom to PCCW
PCCW
PCCW Limited is the holding company of HKT Group Holdings Limited, Hong Kong's premier telecommunications provider in the Information and Communications Technologies industry. PCCW also holds a majority interest in Pacific Century Premium Developments Limited...
.
Former
Cable & Wireless HKT was the Hong Kong operations of British-based telecom firm Cable & Wireless and was established in the then British colony in 1934. It was not until 1981 that the unit formally registered as a Hong Kong company, Cable and Wireless (Hong Kong) Limited. In 1988 Cable and Wireless (Hong Kong) Limited merged with Hong Kong Telephone Company as Hong Kong Telecom. It was renamed as Cable and Wireless HKT International in 1998. CWHKT was acquired by PCCW Limited in 2000.Executive remuneration
Shareholder groups have repeatedly warned about excessive executive remuneration at the company. Before it split into two separately listed companies in early 2010, Cable & Wireless suffered one of the biggest shareholder rebellions in 2009 when 38pc of the shareholder register failed to back the company's pay policy at a fiery meeting.The company's highly controversial long-term incentive plan (LTIP) is calculated on 10% of the company valuation and is claimed to pay out to senior managers, in fact the members of the LTIP are only the executive directors who for the year 2009/2010 share a £60 million bonus pool.
See also
- All Red LineAll Red LineThe All Red Line was an informal name for the system of electrical telegraphs that linked much of the British Empire.It was inaugurated on 31 October 1902. It had this name because on many political maps, British Empire territory was coloured red ....
- Cable & Wireless (Caribbean)
- Imperial Wireless ChainImperial Wireless ChainThe Imperial Wireless Chain, also known as the Empire Wireless Chain, was a strategic international wireless telegraphy communications network, created to link the countries of the British Empire. Although the idea was conceived prior to World War I, Britain was the last of the world's Great Powers...