MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Broadband comes to the Falkland Islands, but at a price

During the last twenty-five years the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic have seen many changes, but none more so than in the field of telecommunications

Once reliant for contact with the outside world on a seabed cable between the capital, Stanley and Montevideo, a thousand miles away to the North in Uruguay, it was no surprise that when the internet arrived in the Islands, around 1996, it was soon adopted with enthusiasm Despite high per minute costs by the time of the 2001 census some 47% of the population had internet access.

With a per capita income judged to be among the highest in the Americas, Falkland Islanders have become accustomed to expecting the best and being able to afford it; visitors to Stanley these days can not fail to notice the number of new, modern homes, with satellite dishes and new model 4X4s outside. It has been a source of frustration, therefore to Internet users that no matter how new and powerful their computer or how fast its modem, Internet connection has remained ?dial-up' and slow.

Today, after a series of trials and subject to the approval of the Falkland Islands Government, Cable & Wireless plc, who hold the unique telecommunications concession in the Islands, announced the introduction of a series of broadband packages for home and business users.

According to Brian Summers, Cable and Wireless's Traffic Manager in Stanley, the proposed packages will cost from between £25 to £400 per month, the choice depending on how much data the user would expect to use in a month.

John Fowler (Mercopress) Stanley