Weblinks Issued First Telecommunications License

In a historic signing ceremony at the Ministry of Infrastructure Communications and Public Utilities, the Public Utilities Commissiontoday issued Weblinks Limited the first telecommunications license inAnguilla’s recently liberalized telecommunications market. Weblinks, alocally owned telecommunications company since 1999, won the competitive bid for the license in December 2003, beating out DigiCel. A second license was won by Wireless Ventures (Anguilla) Ltd. in April 2004.

Weblinks’ partners Griffin Webster, CEO and Kennedy Hodge, Chairman andCOO were on hand to receive the license that had earlier been signed byMr. William Withers, Chairman of the Public Utilities Commission.The ceremony marked the culmination of years of efforts by theGovernment to introduce competitive telecommunications services inAnguilla. It also marks the end of a long and arduous journey byWeblinks to end Cable & Wireless’ monopoly and the beginning of a newera for telecommunications in Anguilla.

Weblinks is poised to hit the ground running, having already installedand tested a state-of-the-art GSM cellular network over the past year.The only hurdle now facing Weblinks is interconnection of their networkwith C&W’s network to allow C&W’s customers to call Weblinks’ customers.This should take about 45 days, if C&W is willing now to play by therules.

When asked for comments, both Hodge and Webster stated that the hardwork had only just begun. “One of the objectives of Weblinks is todramatically reduce the cost of telecommunications in Anguilla. Ourmarketing slogan ‘Talk IS Cheap’ is backed up by our low rates, someless than 50% of C&W’s existing rates.”

They further commented: “We as Anguillians are now unfettered in ourefforts to help develop and exploit Anguilla’s telecommunications marketfor the benefit of Anguilla and its people. When our company Weblinksintroduced High-Speed Internet to Anguilla, we were obstructed by theexisting monopoly and we had to go to court to enforce ourconstitutional rights to provide telecommunications services in our ownland. We won that battle, but it cost time and money that would havebeen better spent developing Anguilla and Anguillians.”

“While we know our rights, the absence of a government document confirming these rights makes it difficult to do business with neutral parties who do not necessarily care to get caught up in legal battles,such as financiers, overseas correspondent telecommunications operators,and even some customers who want to know that we have our licence in our hand before utilizing our services. We also need the licence in our hand to be able to join important international telecommunications associations.”

“This licence document eliminates the questions that these neutral parties might have in their minds. In other words, it removes hindrances and obstacles out of Weblinks’ way that could only otherwise be removed by long and costly court battles. Most importantly, the issuance of the license enables Weblinks to commence of negotiation with Cable & Wireless over interconnection terms.”

The young Weblinks partners also took the time to thank the members ofthe public, the government, and especially their customers for thesupport over the past five years. “We have come a long way since we started in 1999, and we are grateful for your support over the years. Aswe continue to build out our network to improve our service we appreciate your patronage. We couldn’t have done it without you, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”