Tuesday, January 9, 2007

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (Reuters): Internet provider Cariaccess has sued Cable & Wireless and local regulators in two Caribbean nations, claiming it lost more than $65 million because it was denied access to telecommunications networks.

Cariaccess said on Monday it was also reviewing its legal options in other English-speaking Caribbean nations where Britain's C&W once held a virtual monopoly.

Cariaccess filed a $43 million lawsuit in mid-December against C&W and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The company, which is based in Dominica, filed a second lawsuit of $25 million against C&W and the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission of St. Lucia late last month.

Cariaccess said that nearly five years after receiving its first Organization of Eastern Caribbean States telecoms license, it remains unable to connect to the public-switched telephone, Internet or other networks in any of the nine member countries.

"Had we started when we were supposed to and had gotten the interconnection, we could have done an enormous amount of business, but we have lost a lot of market and a lot of ground," Anthony Gunn, managing director of Cariaccess, told Reuters.

Without interconnection, its subscribers would be unable to communicate with those served by other companies.

Cariaccess is also exploring its legal options in the other OECS member states where it has been unable to do business and earn revenue, Gunn said.

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