Communication
As well as excellent physical links to its immediate neighbours, the Isle of Man boasts state of the art digital telecommunications infrastructure. The Island is well served by high bandwidth international connections via both the UK and Ireland.
Completion of the new fibre optic cable link to Northern Ireland in December 2000 was the final step in creating a "self-healing ring" topology which will ensure that traffic continues to flow in the event of a break at any point in the network. The cable has five fibre optic pairs capable of carrying some 23,000 simultaneous telephone calls. A satellite earth station also offers digital or analogue links to international destinations including Europe and the USA. The Island's telecoms provider, Manx Telecom, is a wholly owned subsidiary of British Telecom and was the first provider to launch third generation mobile telephones (3G technology) in Europe.
The Isle of Man Government has publicly stated that its strategy is to position the Isle of Man as a leading centre for offshore e-commerce. It has demonstrated its support for e-commerce by offering a subsidy for connections to ISDN and ADSL for both business and residential customers. |
