Cable & Wireless plc was a British
telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information by various types of technologies over wire, radio, optical, or other electromagnetic systems. It has its origin in the desire of humans for communication over a distance greater than that fe ...
s company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative
telephone
A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...
service to
British Telecom
BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...
(via subsidiary
Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom, formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless, to challenge the then-monopoly of British Telecom (BT). Although it proved only moderately successful at challe ...
). The company later offered
cable TV
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...
to its customers, but it sold its cable assets to
NTL
NTL may refer to:
Companies
* NTL Incorporated and NTL Internet, later Virgin Media, communications media company
** NTL Ireland, later Virgin Media Ireland
* Arqiva, UK company formerly ''NTL Broadcast'' and ''National Transcommunications L ...
in 2000. It remained a significant player in the UK telecoms market and in certain overseas markets, especially in the former British colonies of the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
, where it was formerly the monopoly incumbent. It was also the main supplier of communication in the British South Atlantic, including
Saint Helena
Saint Helena () is a British overseas territory located in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is a remote volcanic tropical island west of the coast of south-western Africa, and east of Rio de Janeiro in South America. It is one of three constitu ...
and the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...
. It was listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
and was a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index
The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is a share index of the 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange with (in principle) the highest market ...
.
The company split in March 2010, with its international division demerging to form
Cable & Wireless Communications
Cable & Wireless Communications Ltd operating as C&W Communications is a telecommunications company which has operations in the Caribbean and Central America. It is owned by Liberty Latin America and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
It ...
, acquired by
Liberty Global
Liberty Global plc is a British-Dutch-American multinational telecommunications company with headquarters in London, Amsterdam and Denver. Its respective legal names are Liberty Global Plc, Liberty Global B.V. and Liberty Global, Inc., with ...
in 2015, and since spun-off in 2018 from Liberty Global to Liberty Latin America, while the remainder of the Cable & Wireless business became
Cable & Wireless Worldwide
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC (informally Cable & Wireless) was a British multinational telecommunications services company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. It was formed in 2010 by the split of Cable & Wireless plc into two com ...
and was acquired by
Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
in 2012.
History
1860 to 1901
Cable and Wireless traces its history back to a number of British telegraph companies founded in the 1860s, and cites Sir
John Pender
Sir John Pender KCMG GCMG FSA FRSE (10 September 1816 – 7 July 1896) was a Scottish submarine communications cable pioneer and politician.
Early life
He was born in the Vale of Leven, Scotland, the son of James Pender and his wife, Marion Ma ...
as the founder.
In 1869, Pender founded the ''Falmouth, Malta, Gibraltar Telegraph Company'' and the ''British Indian Submarine Telegraph Company'', which connected the Anglo-Mediterranean cable (linking
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
to Alexandria using a cable manufactured by one of Pender's companies) to Britain and India, respectively. The
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
to
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
telegraph line was completed in 1870, and in 1872 the three companies were merged with the ''Marseilles, Algiers and Malta Telegraph Company'' to form the ''Eastern Telegraph Company'', with Pender as chairman.
The Eastern Telegraph Company expanded the cable length from 8,860 miles on its founding to 22,400 miles just 15 years later. The company steadily took over a number of companies founded to connect the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...
and
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...
, among them the ''Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company'', leading to a name change to ''The Eastern and Associated Telegraph Companies'' in 1902.
1901 to 2001
Throughout
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, all cable services out of Britain were controlled by the government. The Eastern Telegraph group profited enormously from the diversion of business to India and East Asia, away from the German-owned overland routes and from the general use of telegrams in preference to letters, which were delayed by lack of civilian shipping. For the first time, cables became targets of warfare in themselves. Eastern Telegraph, the
British Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, and the
General Post Office
The General Post Office (GPO) was the state postal system and telecommunications carrier of the United Kingdom until 1969. Before the Acts of Union 1707, it was the postal system of the Kingdom of England, established by Charles II in 1660. ...
collaborated on cutting all cable links between Germany and North America. The Germans temporarily disabled both the Pacific Cable and the cable across the Indian Ocean, by attacking island stations in each ocean. However, the most spectacular event of the first "cable war" came in 1917, when, following the United States' entry into the war, the German cable that had been cut three years before was lifted out of its position between New York and Emden, Germany, moved to a new position between Nova Scotia and Cornwall, and taken over by the British government as a prize of war, to be operated by the General Post Office. In 1920, the government decided to keep this cable, despite U.S. protests, and to purchase a second line, the two together being renamed Imperial Cable.
[Company-Histories.co]
Cable and Wireless plc
Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 25. St. James Press, 1999.
With increasing competition from companies using radio communications, such as
Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company
The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897 ...
, it was decided in 1928 to merge the communications methods of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...
into one operating company, initially known as the ''
Imperial and International Communications Ltd'', and from 1934 as ''Cable and Wireless Limited''.
The firm formed subsidiary corporations in various countries, such as the
Indian Radio and Cable Communications Company
{{More citations needed, date=May 2023
The Indian Radio and Cable Communications Company was a subsidiary corporation formed by Cable & Wireless Worldwide, Imperial and International Communications, Ltd. and the India Radio Telegraph Company in 193 ...
in 1932, designed to oversee India's external communications with other countries.
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
revived the 'cable war' of 1914–1918. In 1939, German-owned cables across the Atlantic were cut once again, and, in 1940, Italian cables to South America and Spain were cut in retaliation for Italian action against two of the five British cables linking Gibraltar and Malta.
Electra House
Electra House is a building at 84 Moorgate, London, England. It is notable as the wartime London base of Cable & Wireless Limited, and office of Department EH — one of the three British organisations that merged in World War II to form the Spec ...
, the company's head office and central cable station, was damaged by German bombing in 1941. However, the company made a considerable contribution to the Allied war effort, supplying, for instance, the wireless equipment with which the North African campaign was conducted in 1942, and sending staff, in army uniforms marked with
Telcon flashes, into several campaigns, starting in Italy in 1943.
Following the
Labour Party's victory in the 1945 general election, the government announced its intention to nationalise Cable and Wireless, which was carried out in 1947.
While the company would remain in being as a government-owned company, continuing to own assets and operating telecommunication services outside the UK, all assets in the UK were integrated with those of the
Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
, which operated the UK's domestic telecommunications monopoly.
In 1979, the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
government led by
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...
began privatising the nationalised industries, and Cable and Wireless was an early candidate because of its history as a private company. The plan to privatise was announced in 1980. The government sold the first half of its share in Cable & Wireless in November 1981. In February 1982, the government granted a licence for a UK telecommunications network,
Mercury Communications Ltd
Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom, formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless, to challenge the then-monopoly of British Telecom (BT). Although it proved only moderately successful at challe ...
, as a rival to
British Telecom
BT Group plc (trade name, trading as BT and formerly British Telecom) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered in London, England. It has operations in around 180 countries and is th ...
. It was established as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless.
[History of Mercury Communications](_blank)
fundinguniverse.com
Seeing an opportunity to enter the growing US telecom market afforded by new, optical fiber technology (The US Communications Act of 1934 prohibited ownership of radio facilities by foreign owned companies), Cable & Wireless acquired 9xDS3s from MCI along the Amtrak right of way and began selling transmission services. Among its early customers was a company named TDX Systems. In 1986, the US long distance industry was deregulated, and many new companies launched into the equal access market. TDX Systems, based in
Falls Church, Virginia
Falls Church is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 14,658. Falls Church is included in the Wash ...
, was one of these, with a footprint between Washington, DC and New York. TDX carried data (analog modem up to digital DS3), and built its own telephone switches at its engineering facility in Chantilly, VA. TDX voice switches, called "SSTs" (satellite switching terminal) were centrally controlled nationwide by
Perkin-Elmer
PerkinElmer, Inc., previously styled Perkin-Elmer, is an American global corporation focused in the business areas of diagnostics, life science research, food, environmental and industrial testing. Its capabilities include detection, imaging, inf ...
mainframes in Falls Church, and were some of the first long-distance switches to utilize least-cost routing, follow-on account codes and PINs. For a short time, TDX touted a position of being one of the primary providers of phone and data service for the World Trade Center.
By 1987, TDX was rapidly expanding its leased fibre network westward, and by mid-1987 Cable and Wireless Communications plc had completed its purchase of the TDX network. For most of the late eighties, the long-distance company was named Cable & Wireless Communications, Inc, and the fibre/data business was named Cable & Wireless Management Services, Inc., until the two divisions were merged. The CWCI U.S. network expanded nationwide throughout the late eighties and nineties, serving all major and some smaller markets.
In 1997, Mercury was merged with three cable operators in the UK (
Vidéotron
Vidéotron is a Canadian integrated telecommunications company active in cable television, interactive multimedia development, video on demand, cable telephony, wireless communication and Internet access services. Owned by Quebecor, it primarily s ...
,
Nynex
NYNEX Corporation was an American telephone company that served five states of New England (Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont) as well as most of the state of New York from January 1, 1984 to August 14, 1997.
Histor ...
, and Bell Cablemedia), and renamed Cable & Wireless Communications.
Later that year, Cable & Wireless bought 49% of the Panamanian state-run INTEL (Instituto Nacional de TELecomunicaciones, National Telecommunications Institute) for US$652 million: it is now the largest communications carrier in that country.
In 1998,
MCI Communications
MCI Communications Corp. (originally Microwave Communications, Inc.) was a telecommunications company headquartered in Washington, D.C. that was at one point the second-largest long-distance provider in the United States.
MCI was instrument ...
and
WorldCom
MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
merged to create
MCI WorldCom
MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
, the company's existing US subsidiary Cable and Wireless USA, Inc. purchased the MCI tier 1
backbone
The backbone is the vertebral column of a vertebrate.
Arts, entertainment, and media Film
* ''Backbone'' (1923 film), a 1923 lost silent film starring Alfred Lunt
* ''Backbone'' (1975 film), a 1975 Yugoslavian drama directed by Vlatko Gilić
M ...
in the
U.S.
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
: prior to 1998, Cable & Wireless USA had merely operated a long-distance telephone business and a small internet service.
In 1999, Cable & Wireless began building global IP and IP MPLS (multiprotocol label switching) networks with a strategy to sell global IP services to corporations. Cable & Wireless purchased Japanese company IDC (International Digital Communications), naming it Cable & Wireless IDC Inc.
During 1999 and 2000, Cable and Wireless purchased 12 ISPs and other companies across mainland Europe (Austria, France, Germany, Nederland, Belgium, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland) and Sweden and Ireland to create, with its UK business, Cable and Wireless Europe.
In December 2000, Cable and Wireless purchased
Hyperlink-Interactive.
2001 to 2013
In 2001, Cable and Wireless sold its 52.5 percent stake in
Cable and Wireless Optus, which was the second-largest telecom company in Australia, to
SingTel
Singapore Telecommunications Limited, commonly known as Singtel, is a Singaporean telecommunications conglomerate and one of the four major telcos operating in the country. The company is the largest mobile network operator in Singapore with ...
. The deal was said to be the second largest corporate deal in Australian history.
In November 2001, Cable and Wireless acquired the bankrupt
co-location provider
Exodus Communications
Exodus Communications, the world's largest web hosting provider at the time, was a data center provider that provided retail and commercial server colocation and was an Internet service provider to dot-com businesses. Exodus went public in 1998 ...
for US$800 million, and Exodus' operations were then merged with the previously acquired
Digital Island
Digital Island is a business-to-business telecommunications provider based at 8 Nugent Street in Grafton, Auckland, New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two mai ...
and renamed Cable and Wireless America. In May 2002, Cable and Wireless purchased
Guernsey Telecoms
Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a Crown Dependencies, British Crown Dependency.
It is the second largest of t ...
from the
States of Guernsey. Later in 2002, Cable & Wireless announced its withdrawal from the US corporate market, with operations being sold to
Primus Telecom
Innovate Corp. (formerly known as HC2 Holdings, Inc. and Primus Telecommunications Group, Inc.) is an American public financial services company founded in 1994.
History
Beginning (1994–1997)
Primus commenced operations in 1994 intent on be ...
. In March 2004,
SAVVIS Communications Corporation purchased Cable and Wireless America for US$155 million via the
Chapter 11
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...
creditor protection process, assuming liabilities of around US$12.5 million and assets including the former MCI IP backbone AS3561. Cable & Wireless acquired
Energis
Energis Communications Limited, briefly Telecom Electric, or more usually just Energis, was a 'technology driven communications company' based in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, but subse ...
for £674 million in August 2005, resulting in a reverse takeover in terms of senior management, with John Pluthero appointed from Energis to head the UK business and Francesco Caio departing by April 2006. Cable & Wireless cancelled its
American depositary receipt
An American depositary receipt (ADR, and sometimes spelled ''depository'') is a negotiable security that represents securities of a foreign company and allows that company's shares to trade in the U.S. financial markets.
Shares of many non-U.S ...
s programme in December 2005, voluntarily delisting from the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
.
In February 2007, Cable & Wireless sold the
Web Technology Group, which focused on internet systems for the UK government, and in March sold its cabling business ''Allnet''. In October 2008, Cable & Wireless completed the purchase of
Thus plc, which was rebranded as "Thus, a Cable & Wireless business".
In November 2009, the Cable and Wireless plc board announced its intention to separate the Cable & Wireless Communications Group and the Cable & Wireless Worldwide Group, reflecting its belief that the businesses had reached a position where they would deliver increased value to shareholders as separately listed companies. On 26 March 2010,
Cable & Wireless Communications
Cable & Wireless Communications Ltd operating as C&W Communications is a telecommunications company which has operations in the Caribbean and Central America. It is owned by Liberty Latin America and is headquartered in Denver, Colorado.
It ...
demerged as the former CWI Group business (Cable & Wireless International) from Cable and Wireless plc and was listed as a public company on the London Stock Exchange. Cable & Wireless plc became Cable & Wireless Worldwide.
Cable & Wireless demerger takes the FTSE 100 to 101
BBC News, 26 March 2010 On 23 April 2012, Vodafone
Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...
announced an agreement to acquire Cable & Wireless Worldwide for £1.04 billion. The purchase was completed on 30 July 2012, and Cable & Wireless was fully integrated into Vodafone on 1 April 2013.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cable and Wireless plc
British companies established in 1860
British companies disestablished in 2010
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Former nationalised industries of the United Kingdom
Telecommunications companies of the United Kingdom
Telegraph companies
Companies based in Bracknell
Telecommunications companies established in 1860
Telecommunications companies disestablished in 2010
1860 establishments in England
2010 disestablishments in England