Cable & Wireless Plc has been granted a new 20-year licence to operate all the national and international telecommunications services for the Republic of Seychelles: the award comes with the setting-up of Cable & Wireless (Seychelles) Ltd, a locally incorporated company in which the Seychelles government is entitled to purchase up to 40% equity shareholding; Cables, whose previous contracts for national and international tele-communi-cations in the republic were to expire in 1995 and 1993 respectively, says that efficient telecommunications are crucial to the tourism industry on which the Seychelles economy is still largely based, and since 1983 a digitalisation programme built around the Ericsson AXE 10 exchange has provided coverage for the main island of Mahe, with radio links to Praslin and La Digue; the exact percentage rate for digital coverage is difficult to determine, but the figure is undoubtedly way higher than the 30% claimed for the UK.
