TSTT is keeping a close eye over a new multi-million underwater fibre optic cable, EC-1, a cable which is pitted directly against Cable and  Wireless’ Eastern    Carib-bean Fibre System (ECFS) cable. 

Competition is now the name of the game in the regional telecommunications market with the entrance of Island Fibre Holdings, a Luxembourg registered company, which has been contracted to build the Caribbean’s newest fibre optic cable.
TSTT/C&W backed away at the last moment when the time came to sign on the dotted line. The EC-1 cable is expected to run from Puerto Rico to Trinidad with planned stops along the way at St Martin, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, Grenada, St Vincent as well as the Grenadines, Dominica and St Kitts and Nevis.
There is at present only one cable providing inter-island Internet and data connectivity in the region. This is the Eastern Caribbean Fibre System (ECFS) which is largely owned and controlled by Cable and Wireless PLC.

According to Richard Carruthers, Public Relations Officer of Island Fibre, this C&W cable is operating at maximum capacity and is saturated. “For telecommunications to truly be liberalised and prices to become more affordable to businesses – a new cable is needed,” he said. A second cable, he argues, offers an alternative and resilient communications route off the islands, which many businesses deem critical when deciding where to locate. While there remains only one fibre route off the islands, C&W, he notes, can block new carriers from entering the market. In a telephone interview, David Morgan, Executive Vice President of Network Shared Receipt of Cable and Wireless West Indies, dismissed  Island Fibre’s claim that the ECFS was operating at a maximum capacity and was saturated.

On the contrary, Morgan maintained, the ECFS had recently undergone an upgrade which saw its capacity being increased by 400 percent. This, he stated, provides a capacity for 2,000 telephone channels, which can be further upgraded as required. “This statement by Island Fibre is incorrect,” Morgan asserted, noting that the ECFS had the capability to service the entire Caribbean region. Managing Director of Island Fibre, Keith Rhea said that the company’s current budget for completion of the project stood at $150 million. He said, however, he expected this to be reduced to close to $100 million during final vendor selection. Funding for the project, he said, will come from world level investment banks:  the European Investment Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Finance Committee of the World Bank and possibly RBTT. Island Fibre, Rhea stated, has already signed a number of new carriers and Internet companies in the Caribbean to participate in a consortium.

They include Ultracom from Puerto Rico, Marpin from Dominica, Digicel, BlueStream Communications, Illuminat (Neal and Massy), WAMCO and Sunbeach from Barbados. Also on the list are Kelcom International from St Vincent, Oceanic Digital, Dauphin Telecom, Guadeloupe Telecom and Martinique Telecom. Additionally, several local communication companies have agreed to be landing partners and manage the cable stations and the distribution of bandwidth. When questioned about Island Fibre’s plan to become the newest telecommunications provider to the Eastern Caribbean, Corporate Communications Manager at TSTT, Rae Ann Harper Walters, said: “We are aware that a number of people are interested in running new fibre optic cables in the region to compete with the ECFS cable.” TSTT is partially owned by Cable and Wireless, which controls the ECFS. According to Walters, the ECFS is a “state-of-the-art” submarine fibre optic cable system which links 17 Caribbean countries, from the British Virgin Islands to TT. It was installed in 1995 and was recently upgraded.

TSTT owns approximately six percent of the ECFS system and it was revealed that it cost US $22 million to upgrade the system from its initial capacity of 32-33 MIUs to 128. This cost was shared among contributing companies, including AT&T and Sprint among others.
“TSTT has an investment in this cable,” she went on, noting that as far as TSTT is aware, the Island Fibre cable terminates in Puerto Rico. “In essence, it’s an inter Caribbean cable so that the people in the Caribbean will still have to find a route to the rest of the world,” she maintained. Walters further noted that TSTT also has an investment in the  Americas I and Americas II cables which takes traffic beyond the Caribbean. In those cables, there is sufficient capacity to allow for growth in traffic, she stated.

She said, “we do not have a problem with people building additional fibre optic cables and over time, just as we have in the past, we will purchase space on fibre as well as satellites for carrying traffic.” “With regards to our prices,” she added, “they are competitive with the other owners of Americas II, such as AT&T. We don’t know anything about the pricing structure of Island Fibre so we will be unable to comment.” Presentations about the project, Rhea said, have been made to governments along the island chain and landing licence applications have been made and several issued. He revealed that landing licences had been received on Puerto Rico Martinique, Guadeloupe and St Martin. However, in the case of Trinidad, he noted, it is just starting the process. The company had requested a ‘Pass Through’ from former Technology Minister Hedwidge Bereaux,” Rhea disclosed. But, “only TSTT can land the cable, so a new licensee will have to be granted.” This pass-through authority allows the company to include Trinidad in the final design and to begin construction. “It will take 18 months to complete and by then Trinidad will have issued licences to a company that will then manage our cable station,” Rhea said.

Rhea noted that the negotiations in Trinidad had come to a standstill since last September, since they had hoped that TSTT would have agreed to land the cable. “After approval of the documents by their lawyers and agreement from Island Fibre, TSTT responded that Cable and Wireless was not ready to join. “We are now awaiting the ECTEL (Eastern Caribbrean Telecommunications Authority) islands licensing before re-opening the discussion with government,” he said. Rhea explained that islands on which the company is unable to obtain landing rights or pass-through approval until landing can be sorted out will be dropped from the design and will have to wait 20 years for the next cable unit to be built. The EC-1 system will contain six fibre pairs with a maximum potential capacity of 3.84 Terabits per second (tbps) and will have an initial design capacity of 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps). The cable will stretch some 2,000 kilometres and will consist of up to 14 unrepeated segments. It  will have a substantial amount of bandwidth reserved and donated for educational and health networks. This, Carruthers maintained, will enable teacher training and student research, with all public schools getting high speed Internet access.
The present bandwidth for the Caribbean region stands at 2.6 gigs and is available on the ECFS. They have another 10 gigs which is used for restoration of another cable called America II.  But this 10 gig is highly unlikely to be made available to the market because it only connects to Trinidad, Barbados and Tortola. The cost to upgrade the rest of the islands is believed to be $30 million.

Even as masqueraders complain that their costumes prices are exorbitant, the cost of fabric has been on the decline for about the last five years.

But one fabric store owner is saying that even if bandleaders were to purchase all their fabric locally, the price of costumes will still remain quite high.  Gregory Aboud of  Jimmy Aboud, The Textile King, said while not much fabric is used in costumes anymore, a lot of intricate work is involved in producing costumes, hence the high prices.
“Costumes are now more sophisticated in terms of the intricate work involved so I doubt that the prices will be reduced. A lot of high technology materials like sequins and beads are also used in costumes.” Aboud added that plenty labour is also involved in the designing and production of costumes which also adds to their costs. He noted that the price of costumes also includes other costs like security, music, bar and toilets among others. He says the reason for the cheaper cloth is simple: there are more fabric dealers in TT than in most other markets. Aboud, who is also president of the Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA), said because of the amount of fabric dealers in the country there is also intense competition to attract customers. “The TT consumer is one of the better consumers around in this region and the combination of the well-educated consumer and the number of competitors have created an ideal situation for fabric in the country.

He said it is no secret that people come to TT from all over the Caribbean for fabric. He added that one of the reasons the yachting business is so big in TT is the fact that they are able to buy yachting and marine type fabrics here at much better prices than anywhere else in the region including Miami. Aboud said fabric is imported from all over the world. He said the Far East, Taiwan, China, Korea are huge players in this business. India is also an up and coming source of textiles while the US nd Europe still control a major part of the business. He said while he will not say that business is slow, he noted that there were many challenges that fabric store owners face on a daily basis. “We have to work much harder now for results than we did previously.” Additionally, there are a huge number of garment dealers showing up in TT and this is also having a negative impact on the garment industry.
“This is not only a matter of driving down prices, but creating options hence the prices have to be very tight.” He said some fabrics like those for school uniforms, drapery and curtain are cheaper now as compared to the last ten years. “I do not think that the cost of fabric should be such a big issue. People travel from Jamaica, Antigua, Venezuela and Brazil to buy fabric in TT.” He said while some of the fabric businesses in Port-of-Spain are a bit “quiet”, things should pick up now. He said this happens whenever there is Carnival in March. “People always have this feeling that Carnival is far away even if it is in the beginning of March. This sometimes causes a lull in business.”

Aboud said while some of the fabrics will maintain their prices in the coming months,  he said there were synthetic fabrics, like polyester, which is affected by the price of oil. He explained that the resin used in the fabric is derived from oil. “It is very possible that we will have some movement in the price of synthetic fabric if there is a war in the Middle East. If there is an attack on Iraq, it is possible. If however, it is a quick war then it might not have much effect.” Maria Abraham, manager of Queensway agreed with Aboud, saying cloth prices have been falling for the past few years. Abraham said some of the more popular fabrics that are used for Carnival like spandex, jersey and violle are being sold as low as $6.95 per yard. She said even though the store does not supply mas bands with fabric, they never increases their prices around Carnival time. “In fact we have a sale at that time.”

But despite the fact that there a sale, she said business is much slower than last year. “Last year we had more business than this year. For the past couple of years business has been slowing down.” Abraham said she expects business to pick up as Carnival approaches. Mike Stephen, manager, Textile Corner, said the consumer has been getting better value for the last few years. He said the cost of fabric has been on the decline for about the last five years. “Our challenge is to remain innovative and be competitive at the same time.” He added that the next complication for fabric store owners is the fact that costs like wages have been increasing. He said while their revenue base is going down, costs are going up. “We have seen the effects of such complications. Many fabric merchants like Patrick Aboud (owner of  Patrick’s which closed last year) and George Aboud have exited the market.” Juliet’s which was located on Queen Street, also closed its doors last year because of poor sales.

Stephen warned that this might be the outcome if costs keep increasing and prices are constantly reduced. “People who are not making money will drop out and invest somewhere else. This is very much a cause for concern.”He said another factor which is contributing to the demise of fabric stores is the large number of ready-made clothing available on the market. People are allowed to bring clothing to TT without paying duty and can therefore pass on these savings to customers. He added that those in the clothing industry also face many challenges as there is intense competition in this sector. “If you are a legitimate merchant paying your duty and you have to compete against someone who is not paying duty that is real hardship.” Stephen echoed Abraham’s sentiments. He said business has been slow for the last few years. “We have seen a couple of our competitors exit the market. This clearly indicates that the fabric industry is not as buoyant as it used to be.” Charmaine Patrick, supervisor, Miguel Moses, said sales have been terrible over the last few years. “People are hardly buying fabric. There has been a decline in sales over the years but this year it is even slower.” She also agreed that ready-made clothing industry is a real threat to the fabric business. Sandra Fournillier, a supervisor at 61 Queen Street, a bargain fabric store, said sales were much lower than last year even though prices are much cheaper. She noted that because they were a bargain store they usually sell cloth at cheaper prices.

It seems like the hydrocarbon sector has finally woken up and smelled the gas fumes, so to speak.

Companies like BHP Billiton, the National Gas Company (NGC) and British Gas, among others, have incorporated environmental policies into their corporate framework, evidence that the attitude of companies towards the environment has changed to suit the times. Head of Environment, Safety and Security at the National Gas Company of TT (NGC) James Trim, in an interview expressed the view that companies in the  hydrocarbon sector had begun to accept environmental performance as a business issue. This, he asserted, is a result of the emergence of what he called the “Triple Bottom Line”. Increasingly, Trim said, companies are accountable for their impact on the environments, noting that companies must learn to anticipate and respond to safety and environmental issues.

“In this shifting business context the significance of environmental issues is evolving,” he maintained. “NGC’s business activities, for example, must therefore create value that must be communicated to multiple internal and external stakeholders.” “By focusing on risk and resource management, our activities can produce operational and strategic value by reducing costs and enhancing revenues,” he said. Trim went on to state that  the ability to demonstrate a responsible environmental attitude can dramatically improve the image of a corporation, thereby fostering better relations with the company’s stakeholders. Adverse publicity about the organisation’s environmental performance is always highly damaging, he said. “The scope and impact of environmental legislation is ever increasing,” he said.
In September 1997, the Board of NGC approved a revised Corporate Environment and Safety Policy which Trim described as an expression of the company’s commitment to the environment and safety performance.

“It is our belief,” he maintained, “that a successful company conducts its business in a safe and environmentally responsible manner and that sustainable development is an organising principle that must inform the search for new business opportunities and define our success.”
Trim said that NGC’s policy included the conduct of business with minimum risk to employees, risk based analysis and prompt response to areas of latent failures and loss exposure, as well as the minimisation of the generation of waste and the prevention of pollution at source customers. Additionally, the company has put in place the necessary resources, including expertise, to manage its business. It conducts risk assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments on all significant projects. Communications Officer for British Gas TT Limited, Stacey Alfonso agreed that the attitude of companies in the hydrocarbon sector towards the environment had indeed improved dramatically over the years.

“Now,” she said, “there are oil spill response plans that involve oil production companies in TT.  British Gas possesses a Spill Contingency Plan that covers diesel spills from support vessels and any potential loss of containment of hydrocarbon based products on the platform.” In addition, energy companies are becoming ISO 14001 certified, which is an international environmental management certification. In 2000, British Gas became the first exploration and production company to attain such certification.

This covered all areas of operation including the PoS head office, the Logistics Base in Chaguaramas and the Dolphin platform on the East Coast. In January 2003, British Gas was re-certified for all previously certified areas of operations, and had its Hibiscus platform, which was installed on the north coast in 2001, certified for the first time. Director of External Affairs at BHP Billiton Petroleum, Dr Carla Noel, expressed the belief that the issue of spills or any aspect of environmental damage, was indeed a critical one and should be given the  utmost priority by any company. She said that the company had a “strict policy of zero environmental harm” which was reflected in continuous training and systems implemented throughout the company. “We are,” she maintained, “committed to working with all within the private and public sectors, and also to working with other petroleum companies to ensure zero environmental harm.”

At the recent Petroleum Conference and Exhibition hosted by the South Trinidad Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Geological Society of TT, Gary Aboud, Secretary of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, called on state bureaucrats and corporations alike to take responsibility for the lack of oil spill emergency preparedness in TT. “We recognise an increase in industrial and marine, as well as an increase in processing, exploration and transportation and we recognise the risk of spills and blow outs,” he stated. “Now,” Aboud went on, “the basic consideration is how to preserve the environment as we explore and extract”. “You, the stakeholder, the private sector, can pressure the government into putting in place coordinating mechanisms to respond in a timely manner to environmental emergencies,” he said, noting that the current situation is one which sees no fixed method of notification and response for oil spills

A person who has sited an oil spill is under no obligation to report the spill and there is no authority to which a report must be made. Reports, he noted, may go to environmental groups or to the media who do not possess the necessary means for assessment and remediation. Additionally there is a Draft National Oil Spill Contingency Plan which outlines a tiered response for oil spills, necessary remediation methods, areas of responsibility and outlines authority for each area. This has been in draft form for the past nine years, Aboud stated.