telephone lines.
             Services were introduced into the Caribbean shortly after they were readily available in North America and Europe. The main reason of their introduction to the region was to support mercantile interest. These services were offered by private, government regulated monopolies based in the European metropole.
             Countries like Haiti and the Dominican Republic ended their colonial status in the 1800's, but remained dependent on the countries that once colonized them –France and Spain, respectively- and the United States, in issues of telecom. The Dominican Republic integrated domestic and international services under CODETEL, which is a subsidiary of the US, based company General Telephone (GTE). CODETEL and Corporation Teleco d'Haiti, which is government owned, operated as a monopoly in Haiti.
             The major event that increased the telecom industry in the Caribbean was the acquisition of companies providing domestic service in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago by a major US company, Continental Telephone (Contel). Contel bought all of the domestic companies of these countries in the 1960's, as well as the company providing domestic and international services to the Bahamas. Contel brought much advancement to the telecom industry in these countries. Contel installed new electromechanical switching and transmitting systems.
             Another major service provider in the Caribbean is UK based company Cable and Wireless. In the 1960's, they began to provide international services to Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago through subsidiaries (Barbados External Telecoms, Jamintel, and Textel). In the 1980's, they acquired the domestic interests in these countries. The systems in these countries were already state of the art due to heavy government investment, and when Cable and Wireless came in, they further upgraded and increased external capacities by 60 percent.
             Privatizatio...