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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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