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Government Issues Statementon Dialogue with Cable & Wireless
As Net2Phone Inc. and Cable and Wireless(Cayman) Ltd (C&W) prepare to appear in Grand Court for ahearing set for the 23rd and 24th of October, the Minstry of Communicationshave issued a release confirming that C&W met with Government.
The following is the text of a release issuedby the Ministry of Communications, through Government InformationServices.
"On Monday , September 25, everytime the Government met withCable & Wireless (Cayman Islands) Ltd's management and representativesof its regional operations based here.
"This is a continuation of our dialogue with Cable &Wireless to critically review the telecommunications industryin the Cayman Islands. The parties hope to reach a consensus onreform to ensure Cayman Islands customers continue to have availableto them innovative and reliable telecommunications products andservices, at affordable prices."
Net2Phone along with its local representatives, Silvanus TechnologiesLimited and its Managing Director, Howard Peterson, have filleda writ against the communications giant asking the court to restrainC&W from blocking Net2Phone addresses.
In the affidavit filed, the plaintiff alleges that C&W assertsin its advertising material "With an ISDN line from Cableand Wireless you can transmit information, including voice, data,images and videos within your organisations and to your customersand suppliers ...." and "ISDN transmits informationup to five times faster than tradional methods, saving time, money... travel, couriers and the Internet."
Mr. Peterson is claiming that he relied on C&W to providethe services for which he contracted. He states: "It is importantto understand that very time a subscriber accesses the Net2Phonesite using the Yapjack, he is necessarily using his Internet serviceof which C&W is earning the basic rental plus time charge... it hopes to be able to earn higher profits by forcing itscustomers to use the more expensive voice transmission over itsanalog telephone lines rather than Internet access over eitherits ISDN lines or its analog lines."
Meanwhile, as reported in last week's edition of Cayman Net News,the parent Company of Cable & Wireless (Cayman) Ltd. - Cable& Wireless PLc - has signed a deal with Nortel Networks ofCanada to use the very same Voice-over-Internet Phone technologythat is now offered by Net2Phone, to route all of its communcationstraffic arond the world, including the Cayman Islands.