Introduction
 Although SVG has access to some of the most advanced telecom infrastructure in the world, the services are cost prohibitive for the average individual and rural access is extremely limited.   One of the major challenges for the region is balancing the business sectors demand for enhanced services with demand for basic services for ordinary citizens.  Going far beyond the business implications of limited access to cost-effective telecommunications, the value of catering telecom to rural areas has major implications for economic development.  Access to basic telephone service, which many people in rural areas do not, is necessary   to improve the provision for basic needs such as education and healthcare.  Sometimes those in rural areas sometimes do not even have convenient access to pay phones. 

Physical infrastructure
SVG has a fully digital telephone system with approximately 19, 000 phone lines in use. International telecommunications are provided through the Eastern Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS).  Cable and Wireless PLC (C&W) operates both the national and international services, as well as telephony, facsimile, data, internet, paging, public coin and card phones, and telex and telegraph services.  Cable and Wireless Cellular, a subsidiary of C&W, provides cellular phone service(analog).  Cable & Wireless (WI) Ltd is the domestic and international franchise carrier to the completely all digital network.   Caribbean Cellular, the most extensive cellular network in the caribbean, operates throughout the Caribbean, including SVG, and offers its marine customers seamless roaming via the MSAT network (covers Caribbean and North and Central America). (2)   The prices however are astronomical  (3)

n the last five years, C&W has invested over US $2 billion in infrastructure in the English-speaking caribbean region, representing over 900,000 lines. (4)  However, C&W has been investing in the region since the 1960's. 
In 1965, a new radio technology, Tropospheric Scatter, was introduced to the Eastern Caribbean by C&W.  This was superseded in 1972 by the Eastern Caribbean Microwave System, which was upgraded in 1991 to a digital microwave system.  In 1991, a digital microwave system was installed, the Digital Eastern Caribbean Microwave System, DECMS. The islands of the Eastern Caribbean are linked to Barbados via the DECMS , which is backed-up with a state-of-the-art fiber optic cable system known as the Eastern Caribbean Fiber-Optic System (ECFS).  The ECFS, a US$60 million investment, links the 14 islands from the British Virgin islands in the north to trinidad and Tobago in the south.  The ECFS replaced the  the Digital Eastern Caribbean Microwave System and is considered the world's most advanced telecom link. This cable stretches from Tortola, British Virgin Islands, in the North to Trinidad in the south, connecting Jamaica, Dominican Republic, and Cuba. In addition, the Americas 1 Fiber Optic Cable System links Trinidad & Tobago, through AT&T to the USA, through CANTV to Venezuela, and through EMBRATEL to Brazil. Cable and Wireless made extensive investment in the installation of ECFS. It is said that this system offers virtually unlimited bandwidth and improved security for all information and communication needs, well into the next century.  (5)

Satellite services
Most satellite transmission systems facilitate broadcasting services. Many of the Caribbean countries have at least one INTELSAT link, sometimes as a nonsignatory user rather than as a member (6)   No island-specific data in this area was found.

Global and Intra-regional digital connections
Although major submarine and fiber optics cables and several satellites service the region with footprints over the hemisphere, the intra-regional infrastructure is very weak;  more than 50% of the telephone and Internet traffic between the countries is routed to the US often resulting in an enormous amount of congestion. (7)
There is urgent need for a backbone communications network that will provide affordable access to the range of information services that will be needed in the future. The infrastructure design should be considered at the national as well as the regional levels, and should make use of the new technologies, such as wireless telephony and satellite-based systems, which are often cheaper than the current wired systems. 

Telecommuncaiton Capabilities and Services. 
Competition in the provision of basic and value-added services is still non-existent, yet the governemt says they are working on this.  However,  I was told on more than one occasion that competiton in at least value-added services should have been implemented in SVG by January 1, 2000.  During my visit to SVG during the second week of January 2000, no developments had yet surfaced.  (See Privatization and Deregulation for more information on what the governemt is doing in this area)
The present services offered by Cable & wireless are as follows: (8)

• Frame Relay with maximum speed up to T-1 access; prices change every quarter; 
• ISDN - 2 types - Basic Rate Interface (BRI) which operates at speeds of up to 128 Kbps and Primary Rate Interface, which operates at speeds of up to 1984 kbps; 
• Leased circuits, with speeds up to 64 kbps through fiber optic, microwave and international satellite facilities, price approximately
• Have ATM capability, but it is not yet offered to the public.

World Telecommunication Indicators for 1998 for Selected OECS Countries  (9)
 

Teledensity
As mentioned previously, teledensity is often used as a measure of economic well-being of a country.  Furthermore, teledensity could also be used as a fundamental measure of the readiness of any country to adopt modern IT solutions within industry and within  the home. 
Caribbean countries compare favorable with other developing countries in terms of teledensity measured in lines per 100 population.  However, this figure probably says little about true accessibility to phone service, since many of these phone lines are probably business lines, and more specifically at tourist and financial services centers.   Teledensity is probably significantly overstates accessibility for individual residents. AS can be seen in the above table, St. Vincent scored the lowest in terms of teledensity compared to the other selected OECS countries. 
It is interesting to mention as well that there are still wait lists for telephone service in SVG.  From my own personal experience, the wait list for telephones in some areas is still excessive; a friend of mine waited 3 months for a telephone in a town only about five miles outside of the main city.  The ITU data had no recent statistics for waiting lists. However, in 1995, the waiting list was  1504 and in 1996 it had decreased significantly to 604.  (10)
I believe that often the wait list is indicative of the difficulty in the actual topography of SVG and the in difficulty in laying lines in some areas.  This could and most likely will be addressed as the costs of wireless communications decreases; however, at the moment  analog cellular coverage in SVG is spotty and unreliable, as well as cost-prohibitive (cost of a local 3 minute call is US$1). (11)

Conclusion
I was told by Donald Austin, General Manager of C&W SVG, that any service I  have access to in the US could be offered in SVG.  Quality of telecommuncation in SVG does not seem to be the overriding issue.
But Cable & Wireless has taken a market approach to the use of their capacity, and since the OECS governments have not yet developed policies for use of these services, users in the OECS continue to feel the constraints of insufficient capacity.
There is urgent need for the governments to introduce reforms quickly and improve the infrastructure design at the national as well as the sub-regional and regional levels.  They should make use of the new technologies, such as wireless telephony and satellite-based systems, which are often cheaper than the current wired systems.