chris.haydon@telecayman.com

Do you believe the Cayman Islands ranks among the leaders in the delivery of telecommunications services in the region? Why or why not?
With four telecommunication providers serving the residential and business community, the Cayman Islands leads the Caribbean region in choice of providers. This level of competition drives down costs for the consumer and leads to product and technology innovation by the provider.

What do you predict will be the next major advancement in the local telecommunications industry?
The telecommunications industry is moving up the stack and is looking at the application layer for the next suite of products and services. This is driven by the need to find alternate sources of “sticky” revenue. On the consumer side, applications in the form of mass storage, gaming and entertainment will become more prevalent as product offerings. On the business side, backup and recovery services, utility computing and hosted applications will lead the way.

What legislative changes would you recommend that could enhance the delivery of information communications technology?
As stated earlier, competition is driving the enhancement of ICT here in the Cayman Islands. Legislative changes are not needed to enforce or mandate these enhancements; the marketplace is doing it on its own. In the near future, local number portability will allow consumers to switch carriers with ease and not lose their existing numbers.  

What plans over the next year will your company introduce to improve the delivery of your products and services customers?
TeleCayman completed a fibre optic network almost one year ago that touches over 30 business centres on Grand Cayman and delivers 1Gbps of throughput to each building. TeleCayman will continue to expand the fibre optic network throughout Grand Cayman, and look to take advantage of technologies to boost the throughput of the fibre to deliver more bandwidth at lower costs. This will be passed on to the business consumer in the form of lower costs and greater performance. This will also lead to innovative products, at the application layer, being developed and launched using this backbone.

What impact has the economic slowdown had on your business?
TeleCayman has enjoyed record growth as consumers look to cut telecommunication costs during the economic slowdown.

Are there any issues that you believe are preventing the telecommunications industry to advance to the next stage of its development?
The telecommunications industry is poised to advance to the next level here in the Cayman Islands driven by competition. Providers know that consumers are demanding the latest and greatest in technology and want access yesterday, not today. The Cayman Islands is home to residents from all over the globe. These residents have needs that can only be met by unlimited bandwidth at low costs. This is driving providers to advance to bigger, faster networks at lower costs.

Does your firm support any educational programmes in the schools to encourage Caymanians to enter the telecommunications industry?
TeleCayman is supportive of any and all programmes that lead to more Caymanians joining the ranks within telecommunication industry. TeleCayman prefers to hire, train, develop and invest in Caymanians. It makes good business sense.

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