Cable & Wireless plc

+44-20-7315-4000
124 Theobalds Rd.
London
WC1X 8RX, United Kingdom

www.cwplc.com

Sales

$6.8 billion

Business Description
Cable & Wireless is an international telecommunications business with annual revenue of £3.7 billion in the year to 31 March 2004, of which £3.4 billion related to continuing operations, and customers in some 80 countries. Headquartered in London, Cable & Wireless’ principal operations are in the United Kingdom, Europe, the Caribbean, Panama, Macau and Japan. Cable & Wireless provides voice, data and IP services to business and residential customers and wholesale services to carriers, mobile operators and content, application and internet providers.

Cable & Wireless provides a variety of services including voice, data, IP and mobile to its customers through its national and international operations.

Voice

Cable & Wireless offers domestic and international voice services via switched and dedicated facilities to residential, business, corporate and multinational customers.

Through its Carrier Services operations, Cable & Wireless provides wholesale services and interconnect to mobile operators and carriers with customers including incumbent former monopolies, mobile operators and regional telecommunications companies and service providers.

Cable & Wireless offers mobile voice and messaging services, principally using GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) and TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) technology. As at 31 March 2004, Cable & Wireless subsidiaries, branches and associates provided mobile telecommunications services to 3.1 million customers around the world, of which some one million relates to associate companies.

In countries where Cable & Wireless is the local incumbent operator, such as the Caribbean, Panama and Macau, customers are typically served through Cable & Wireless’ own fixed line and mobile network facilities. In other regions, customers are primarily connected to the Cable & Wireless network via third party local loops and leased line facilities or directly via fibre or microwave links.

Data

Cable & Wireless has a portfolio of data services including traditional data transport services (frame relay) and national and international switched and dedicated services based on ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode, a high speed digital transmission technology).

IP

Cable & Wireless focuses on three IP product sets: IP communications that enable customers to migrate from traditional telecommunications services to IP services with improved functionality; access solutions; and transit to IP networks and the internet. Access solutions include value-added security services such as managed firewalls, intrusion detection and response, scanning and analysis (such as email virus protection) and authentication and encryption services.

Cable & Wireless’ IP-VPN QoS solution delivers these products through a multi protocol switching based IP solution which creates virtual private networks and allows customers to prioritise traffic to best fit their business needs. IP-VPN QoS delivers a secure intranet environment over which voice, video, data and other traffic can flow and can incorporate business partners and remote workers as well as the customers’ own sites.

In the Caribbean, Panama, Macau and Rest of the World, Cable & Wireless also provides residential and business customers with dial-up IP and other internet services, including broadband ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line) solutions.