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Turks and Caicos Islands Profile
Turks and Caicos in the
Wikipedia
Country history, politics, map, geography, economy,
demography, full information and links.
Turks and Caicos in the CIA
Factbook
Information about the economy, geography, government,
population, communications, military and transnational
issues.
BBC Turks and Caicos Islands
Profile
Up to date resume about local leaders,
history, main events,
map, flag, geography, news, politics and media links.
Turks and Caicos e-Government Page
The Office portal, with many useful
links.
Turks and Caicos Islands Globalis
Page
Turks and Caicos statistics for agriculture, climate, economy,
education, environment,
gender equality, health, human development, population,
technology, and water.
Telecommunications Reports for
The Caribbean Region
Caribbean Telecommunications
Market - Anguilla to Bermuda Report
This report provides an overview of the telecom markets in
Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados and
Bermuda. It includes information about fixed-line and mobile
operators, Internet providers, regulatory background and state of
liberalisation.
See summary and table of
contents
Caribbean Telecommunications
Market - British Virgin Islands to Monserrat
Report
This report provides an overview of the telecom markets in
British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada,
Guadeloupe, Martinique and Montserrat. It includes information
about fixed-line and mobile operators, Internet providers,
regulatory background and state of liberalisation. See summary and table of
contents
Caribbean Telecommunications
Market - Netherlands Antilles to US Virgin
Islands
This report provides an overview of the telecom markets in
Netherlands Antilles, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent
& the Grenadines, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos,
and the US Virgin Islands. Covers fixed-line and mobile
operators, Internet providers, regulatory background and state of
liberalisation. See summary and table of
contents
Caribbean Telecoms Market
Overview and Statistics
Almost all Caribbean countries offer a full range of telecom
services, despite being characterised by small markets in terms
of population. Liberalisation agreements have been reached in
most countries. The major mobile players are the incumbent Cable
& Wireless and Digicel which, in June 2005, agreed to acquire
all the Caribbean operations of Cingular Wireless. The
region’s mobile subscriber base is concentrated in the
hands of these two major players, with only a few smaller
companies edging their way into the newly liberalised markets.
This Paul Budde report provides an overview of the
Caribbean’s telecom sector accompanied by relevant
statistics and a brief profile of the major players. See report table of
contents
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Broadband, ICT and Consumer E-Commerce
in Turks and Caicos Islands
April 2007 Review
In January 2006, Cable and Wireless yielded to
pressure by giving up the last six years of its monopoly in the Islands, and
signed a new 15-year license agreement under the Telecommunications Ordinance
2004 and the Telecommunications and Frequency Licensing Regulations 2005.
C&W has put a brave face on the loss of its monopoly, and congratulated the
government on its liberalized regime. However, the firm said that it plans to
reduce local wireless tariffs by up to 50% and national fixed line rates by up
to 60% from 1 March 2006. The liberalisation seeks to attract more players into
the telecommunications market and boost access to communications services.
The first of these new players was Digicel, the pan-Caribbean mobile telecommunications
firm, which announced in April 2006 that it had been granted a license to establish
a GSM cellular network in the jurisdiction. The government is encouraging information
technology operations and there is clear interest being shown in offshore e-commerce
development.
In 2004 the government formed a TCI Telecommunications Commission as part of a drive
to implement and oversee changes in the modernising of the telecommunications
industry including the introduction of competition in the domestic market. The
Telecommunications Commission carries out the functions conferred on it by the
Telecommunications Ordinance 12 of 2004. It serves to advise the Minister on
telecommunications; regulate telecommunications in the Islands; promote effective
and sustainable competition in telecommunications; set standards for the quality
of telecommunications services; promote the interests of consumers and to encourage
licensees to operate efficiently; publish information, reports or other documents;
carry out investigations and hold enquiries; and police anti-competitive practice
or behaviour.
Turks and Caicos Offshore Activities
The natural bonding of the Internet and Offshore stems from the fact that both,
of their nature, manage to avoid tax. Businesses which can operate on the Internet
without taxation, so to speak, touching ground in a high-tax jurisdiction will
naturally migrate to offshore jurisdictions; while businesses that already have
offshore existence will find it highly convenient to be able to use the Internet
to trade with their high-tax customers without having to make a landing in their
countries.
As a major offshore jurisdiction with tens of thousands of offshore enterprises
already installed, including many trading companies, it is only a matter of time
before the Turks and Caicos Islands becomes a centre of e-commerce activity. The
islands' geographical location, good telecommunications links, sophisticated
business infrastructure and the low-cost, English-speaking, highly-educated
work-force are all factors which will attract the sales, marketing and
administrative departments of retail operations, particularly those trading
into North and South America.
By locating websites in Turks and Caicos to carry out functions previously based
in high-tax jurisdictions such as sales and marketing, treasury management,
supply of financial services, and most of all, the supply of digital goods such
as music, video, training, software etc, businesses can take advantage of low
rates of taxation for increasingly substantial parts of their operation.
In many countries, the distribution of goods from a warehousing facility does
not constitute the carrying on of a trade or business in that jurisdiction, so
that even for physical goods, in many case it will be possible to avoid a
permanent establishment (taxable presence) altogether in many high-tax
jurisdictions where trading activities currently take place.
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