A Century Of Keeping
pp. 46-51 · Read in the full issue
Cable & Wireless
The Pacific In Touch
Cable 8c Wireless’ first involvement with the Pacific region dates back to the 1870 s when the British Australian Telegraph - one of the many companies amalgamated under the Cable 8c Wireless shingle in 1932 opened the All-Sea
Australia to England Telegraph.
And so successful was it that Cable 8c Wireless continued to operate Australia’s international telecommunications from then until nationalisation in 1946 only to return early in 1992 as a 24.5% shareholder in Optus Communications, which was granted domes tic, international and cellular licences in a nascent duopoly envi ronment.
The Group has an equally long-standing relationship with New Zealand where another Cable 8c Wireless company, the Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Co. opened a tele-
The old: early submarine telegraph cable laying (right and previous page) and the new: the cableship Pacific Guardian leaving harbour (below).
graph service between Botany Bay in
Sydney and Blend Bay in Nelson way back in 1876. Cable Sc Wireless simi larly continued to supply all New Zealand’s international services until
the wave of nationalisations in Commonwealth countries which followed World War 11.
As for the Pacific islands themselves, Cable Sc Wire less presently operates inter national services in Tonga and in conjunction with the governments of the states concerned in Fiji, the Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu. Fiji is the longest running of these operations with the franchise originally granted to a Cable Sc Wire less branch operation in 1902 from which Fintel (51% owned by the Fiji Govern ment; 49% by Cable Sc Wire less) evolved in 1976.
Cable Sc Wireless also par ticipates in the operation of the domestic networks in the Solomons and Vanuatu.
Cable Sc Wireless increased its equity participation in Vanuatu, late last year and combined the international and domestic activities un der a new company called Telecom Vanuatu Ltd.
Fiji
Fiji, like most of its Pacific neighbours, would like to have the most modern in
technology and the highest
quality of telecommunica tions service, even though it cannot as yet reach many corners of the nation with
telephones,” according to
Peter Jackson, Cable Sc Wireless Re gional Director, Asia Pacific.
“It therefore makes a lot of sense to seek out an international partner with funds, technology and experience to
enable us to provide these services.
“Cable Sc Wireless has the funds, the technological expertise and vast expe rience - not only of working in the region, but of developing telecommu
nications with governments as partners. ”
“It also has a long history of
making long-term invest
ments in the Pacific,” Mr.
Jackson said, “as well as a strong contemporary desire to continue so to do.”
Tonga
The tourist brochure de scriptions of Tonga as an
ancient Polynesian kingdom,
the Friendly Islands and “the land where time begins”, con
jure a picture of palm fringed
lagoons and sun-drenched afternoons. Nevertheless
alongside those pictures of
paradise, the satellite earth station on the Nuku’alofa waterfront is a potent symbol
of Tonga’s willingness to
embrace the benefits of new
technology.
Cable Sc Wireless built the earth station in 1978 as part of its franchise obligation to the Government of Tonga to
provide the people of Tonga
with high quality interna
tional telecommunications.
In Tonga new ideas can take awhile to catch on and every where there is the concern to preserve the roots of this an cient culture. For instance, in those early days there were some who blamed the satel lite dish for changes in the weather.
But all that is now history and direct overseas tele-
The current extent of the Cable & Wireless Global Digital Highway (above), Solomon Telekom’s DOMSAT satellite earth station in Honiara, Solomon Islands (below).
phone service is a way of life. Mr. Paul Savage, Cable & Wireless’, General
Manager in Tonga, commented:
“Tongans everywhere are great com municators and our international ser vices are only an extension of the kind of ‘keeping in touch’ which to most Tongans is as natural as breathing. We don’t have a hard job persuading our customers of the benefits of our ser vice the challenge is to keep up with the increasing demand for more and better services.”
Since those early days, in close co operation with the Tonga Telecom munications Commission, interna tional facilities have been expanded and upgraded several times to meet increasing demand and to keep pace with the latest technological advances.
In fact, by the end of 1990, Tonga had become the first country in the INTELSAT global satellite network to operate the new Intermediate Data Rate digital carrier service to more than one destination using a single carrier.
By the middle of last year, customers calling Australia, USA and New Zealand benefited from the improved
quality of digital technology and com
puter users are now being offered packet switched data services. Mean while, a number of enhanced interna tional telephone services such as “coun try direct” and “toll free” are under consideration.
And what of the future? “As the qual ity and availability of services have grown so has the appetite of our cus tomers. We are committed to con tinue working with the Government and Tonga Telecom to meet the needs of Tongans everywhere to stay in touch,” Mr. Savage added.
Solomon Islands
Solomon Telekom Co. Ltd., br ‘Telekom”, as it is known locally, last year launched three new public ser vices for its customers:- Pagenet - the first public Paging sys tem for the islands. Cover is available throughout the capital Honiara and surrounding areas; both numeric and alphanumeric pagers are available.
Datanet - Packet Switching services were introduced so that data may be transferred from a customer’s office to virtually anywhere in the world via a
Cable & Wireless is involved in the installation of fibre optic cables in locations as diverse as Macau (below) and the Missouri-Kansas-Taxas Railroad in the USA (bottom).
packet switch.
Cardphones - the first public tele phones were installed in the Solomons
at prominent locations throughout
Guadalcanal and in the larger of the provincial towns in the other islands.
The cards used are pre-paid debit cards, available in denominations of Sslo.oo, 5120.00 and 5550.00. This is the first ever issue of ‘The Telephone Card” in the Solomon Islands and de picts the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Guadalcanal. A beautiful set of cards is available in a special commemora tive package showing war relics and famous wartime locations as they are
today.
As Mr. Martyn Robinson, General Manager of Solomon Telekom puts it: Telekom is helping the Solomon Is lands communicate”.
Vanuatu
Since the privatisation of Telecom
Vanuatu in 1989, a full upgrade of the telecom network has been effected in conjunction with Cable Sc Wireless pic and France Cables et Radio which now hold 33.3 per cent equity apiece in Telecom Vanuatu Limited with the Government with a similar stake.
Managing Director, Mr. Henri Ramirez, said: “Digitalisation is near full completion with the introduction
of digital exchanges, digital microwave
and digital rural network.
“Advanced telecommunications like
data transmission, packet switching,
leased channels, digital PABX’s, pri vate networks are already developed in Vanuatu making it one of the most modern networks in the South Pa cific.”
Satellites
Cable Sc Wireless’ satellite experi ence is extensive and covers all aspects of the provision of the various satellite
services. These include voice and non voice and the design and provision of national satellite networks (e.g. in the Solomon Islands), tailor-made for lo cal conditions.
Cable Sc Wireless was a founding member of INTELSAT and is the larg est single operator of earth stations in the world. The Group was involved in the formulation of the INTELSAT’s technical standards and a Cable Sc Wireless executive is currently chair man of the Technical Committee of its Board of governors. The Group is also a member of INMARSAT and has rep resentation on its technical commit tee.
In the Asian region, the Group is the operator of and has a one-third inter est in, Asia Sat - Asia’s first privately financed regional domestic telecom munications satellite. Its footprint from Japan to the Mediterranean covers half the world’s population and many of its
From the simple: rural communications in the Seychelles (above), to the complex: a switchroom in Bahrain (left) Cable & Wireless provides the solution.
most rapidly growing economies.
Asia Sat 11, with an even broader foot print, is already on the drawing-boards with an tentative launch-date of late 1994.
Cableships
The Group owns and operates the world’s largest and most sophisticated fleet of cableships and, in addition to cable-laying, Cable & Wireless provides cable maintenance and repair services for many countries.
One of the Group’s ships, CS Pacific Guardian, is based in Suva, maintain ing the southern sector of the ANZCAN
cable which links Australia, New Zealand, Norfolk Island, Fiji and Ha waii. Another is based in Manila to service the Asian region.
Domestic
Operations
In addition to supplying and operat ing international services, the Group is well experienced in the provision of domestic telephone services.
In the UK, for example, the 80%owned Mercury Communications op erates the country’s only alternative terrestrial telephone network and com
petitive public payphone service. Fi
bre optic cable and microwave links connect most major towns and cides.
And in Hong Kong, Hong Kong Tele communications (57.5% owned) operates one of the most advanced telecommunications networks in the world incorporating digital fibre optic and conventional technology. With over 2.6 million lines installed, all of its
switching capacity is digital and all
inter-exchange junctions (other than
14 outer islands) are on fibre optic cables.
In the USA, Cable & Wireless Com munications (100% owned) is the
fourth largest inter-exchange carrier.
Cable & Wireleśis the largest single operator of satellite earth sations in the world - a poilnlt well illustrated by the Mercury Communcations earth station complex at Whilehills, Oxfordshire, UK (large picture and the compan's earth station complex in Hong Kong (inset).
Other countries apart from the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu in which Cable Sc Wireless operates domestic network are:-
Asia/Pacific Australia, Macau, Phillipines, Thailand Middle East, Indian Ocean, Africa Bahrain, Diego Garcia, Maldives Western Hemisphere Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St.
Helena, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos.
Cellular
Telephones
Cable & Wireless is one of the few companies in the world to be both a systems designer and an owner/op erator of cellular networks. The Group designs, procures, tests and commis sion networks/systems to its own speci fications, quite independent of any equipment supplier. It also has exten sive experience in the field of national and international radio spectrum man agement.
Experience spans a broad spectrum of technology and cellular systems or networks with which Cable Sc Wireless is, or has been, involved are:
As for emerging technologies, Cable Sc Wireless is a leader in the develop ment of Personal Communication Networks (PCN) and is heading a con-
sortium to build and operate a PCN network in the UK. For launch this year, PCN will provide all digital mo bile telephone services. The new sys tem is fully portable and allows cus tomers to use the same telephone with the same personal number at home, at work and on the move.
Long-Term
Commitment
What all this emphasises is the Group’s long-term commitment to the countries in which it operates and the
depth of understanding born of long
experience that it brings to those op
erating environments.
Founded in 1870, the UK based Cable Sc Wireless is the world’s largest international
telecommunications operating
organisation with some 38,000 employees in 50 countries.
It is a publicly listed company whose shares are traded on the London, New York, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Geneva, Zurich and Basle stock ex changes. The Group is the four teenth largest company on the
London Stock Exchange and its sub sidiary, Hong Kong Telecommunica tions, is the largest company in terms of market capitalisation listed on the
Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
Cable Sc Wireless is commit ted to the training of staff, both local and expatriate, to ensure the maintenance of in ternational and national tele communications at the high est possible standard.
For this purpose, formal training is undertaken at the
Group’s Engineering Colleges
in Hong Kong, Bahrain, and the UK. This includes a
scheme of progressive management training for all national staff in the countries in which it operates.
The Group operates technician train ing facilities in most of its operating locations and the Solomon Islands pro vides the Pacific’s regional training hub.
The Cable & Wireless station on Deep Water Bay, Hong Kong (above) and students training (below) at the Cable and Wireless Telecommunications College at Porthcurno (right).
Year Country Standard 1993 Australia
Gsm
1991
West Germany
Gsm
1990 Pakistan
Amps
1988 Caribbean
Amps
1988 Macau
Tags
1987 People’s Republic of China
Tags
1987 Hong Kong
Tags
1986 Bahrain
Tags
1983 Saudi Arabia
Nmt
1981 Hong Kong
Namts
1978 Qatar Proprietary