Dear Editor:
I have found your Global Wireless news to be quite edifying. I, however, must correct you on the “First Caribbean CPP provider emerges” article in the September-October 2000, volume 3, number 5 issue.
I was quite disappointed in reading, “Trinidad and Tobago … has become the first country in the Caribbean to introduce calling party pays (CPP).” This statement, and thus the article, is inaccurate and misleading.
CPP was launched at the time cellular service was first introduced to the tiny, formerly British and English-speaking Caribbean island of Dominica in 1996. Despite the perception of “high rates,” the service was well received by Dominicans and envied by other islanders.
It is true that, in general, penetration rates are low in the islands, and many islands still have one provider. With a joint approach to deregulation among some of the islands, operating licenses will soon be issued to other providers. Antigua, with a population of roughly 75,000, already has three mobile providers, two of which offer TDMA service and the other GSM service.
The vast majority of islands operate digital, mainly TDMA networks; call rates have been going down; networks have been expanding; and penetration rates have been soaring.
Keith A. Benjamin
Project Manager
Cable & Wireless Antigua
Antigua and Barbuda
Dear Editor:
Your story in the September-October 2000 issue of Global Wireless titled “First Caribbean CPP provider emerges” is entirely incorrect. The first country in the Caribbean to introduce calling party pays (CPP) was Antigua on 25 January, 2000.
Antigua and Barbuda, with a population of 65,000, has one of the highest mobile penetration rates in the Caribbean, around 30 percent. And unlike many of the other islands, it has three mobile providers. APUA PCS is the new entrant offering GSM 1900 MHz service, the first such operator in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA), telephones division, is Antigua and Barbuda’s own national telecommunications company, bringing up-to-date telecom services to residential and business customers. With a penetration rate of 55 telephone lines per hundred people, one of the highest in the Caribbean, Antigua’s line growth has been exceptional with more than 37,000 lines today. Antigua and Barbuda has one of the highest call completion rates in the Caribbean, due to its ultramodern and sophisticated telecommunications network.
In January 2000, APUA launched its new mobile digital GSM service, called APUA PCS, offering high voice quality, islandwide coverage and the latest available features on the market. APUA PCS has become the largest cellular provider in Antigua and Barbuda in a very short period of time with well more than 8,500 customers.
Julian Wilkins
PCS Manager
APUA PCS
Antigua and Barbuda
Editor’s note: Mr. Benjamin and Mr. Wilkins are indeed correct. Dominican mobile subscribers first had CPP service in June 1997, more than three years before customers in Trinidad and Tobago. Antigua followed with CPP service beginning in January 2000. Thank you for keeping us on our toes.
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