Caribbean Cable Communications (CCN) in Anguilla is now providing a long distance telephone service to the people of the island, thus roundly complementing its recent internet service and its long-established cable television service.

Lisa Webster, 1st customer, signing up for telephone service

In announcing the new telephone service on Monday, December 5, company President, Lee Bertman, said it was a dream come true. “I remember a number of years ago talking to the staff about the moment in history when we provide internet and telephone service,” he told the media. “I am not sure I believed it myself, but here we are doing exactly that. This has been a lot of tremendously hard work and great expense for the company, but we decided that to participate in this rapidly-evolving telecommunications market, this is exactly what we had to do…To the best of my knowledge this is the first such launch in the Caribbean region.”

Mr. Bertman made the comment following the announcement of the long distance telephone rates by Operations Manager, Barbara Owen. There are three zone areas. Zone 1, St. Martin/St. Maarten, carries a cost of EC$0.50 per minute; zone 2, USA, Canada, UK and the Caribbean (excluding Cuba, French Guiana and Haiti) the cost is EC$0.60 per minute; zone 3, all of Western and Eastern Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan (and other countries) costs EC$0.67 per minute.

Mrs. Owen continued: “Local on-network calling is free. The monthly recurring telephone fee for your first telephone line is $EC35 per month. The monthly recurring telephone fee for each additional line/telephone number is EC$20 per month. The installation fee for cable only customers, meaning customers having our cable service at present, is EC$75. The installation for those customers who currently have cable and internet, is free.”

She said a special package was that customers having cable and internet service would get a 5% discount on all fixed recurring monthly fees. The standard calling feature include caller ID, voice mail and call waiting. “We are now truly a full service communications provider delivering service, simplicity and savings,” she stated.

Evan Webster and Jn Baptiste of Scotiabank

In addition, Mrs. Owen said that from December 5 until March 31, the normal monthly recurring fee of EC$ 35 would be reduced by $10 to $25 per month. Further, each cable customer would receive a $25 gift certificate to be used for an upgrade to either internet or telephone service. She added that the first 50 customers to sign up for the telephone service would receive an additional gift and those signing up between December 5 and December 23 would have an opportunity to enter a raffle for several prizes.

Mr. Bertman made the point that CCC was an Anguillian company providing the telephone service. “This gives us a unique perspective of what our customers want and need,” he said. “We intend to develop that over time to tailor our offerings and rates to the meet the needs, opinions and requests of our customers.” One of the offerings is free on-net calling. This means that when a CCC customer calls another customer, it is free regardless of how long the conversation lasts. Calls made to persons served by other local providers will however cost 8 cents per minute. Customers in Anguilla will be able to call others in Nevis free of cost when the telephone service is operational there, thus saving them money.

The CCC President described the company’s international rates as being “very nice” and said the telephone service was “a soft launch” and was “only a small part of what we are going to do.” He said the company would be announcing rate packages and incentive programmes and was negotiating with various parties to offer the Caribbean much less than 60 cents per minute. “This is truly an exciting new era that we have embarked on and it is just the very beginning of the story,” Mr. Bertman said. He was grateful to Scotiabank Anguilla Limited for its loan assistance to finance the very expensive venture. The bank’s Managing Director, Jn Baptiste commented that the bank was happy to partner with CCC in its telecommunications development.

Front row: Don Curtis, Lee Bertman, and Barbara Owen with senior staff

Mr. Bertman recalled that the company began its cable television service 15 years ago and had 700 customers. There are now 4,000 cable customers and 700 internet customers.

Public Utilities Commissioner, Bill Whithers, described the launching of the new telephone service as “an historic moment for Anguilla and to be on the forefront of telecommunications development in the Caribbean.” He said the Anguilla deserved a tremendous amount of credit for its foresight in liberalising the local market. He noted that while licences were issued to other companies in the mobile field, the licence to CCC was the first in the fixed line field.

He commended the owners, managers and the employees of CCC. “They are on the leading edge of technology … which is on par with the best not only in the Caribbean, but in North America and throughout the world,” he stated. He added that the company and its employees “deserve a lot of credit for accepting the challenge both from a technical and financial standpoint.”

Don Curtis, the company’s Corporate General Manager, expressed pleasure in being part of CCC and was delighted with its new thrust into the telecommunications market. He described its venture as a challenging experience and praised the staff for their hard work and dedication. During the press briefing, it was disclosed that plans were in hand to increase the workforce and later expand the company’s accommodation facilities.

The first customer to sign up for the telephone service was Lisa Webster, who interviewed Mr. Bertman on various aspects of the company’s services.

The press briefing was carried live on Cable Television.

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