C&WJ and Sandals Resorts International Sign $US 7-million deal

Executives from Sandals Resorts International (SRI) and Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ) signing a three-year agreement under which C&WJ will be the chief provider of data transport and mobile services for SRI.  From left are SRI’s Director of Administration, Wayne Cummings, C&WJ’s Vice President Corporate Sales & Solutions, Lloyd Distant, C&WJ’s President & CEO Phil Green and SRI’s Director of Operations, Shawn DaCosta

The Sandals deal comes as Cable & Wireless is transforming its individual businesses across the region into a single Pan-Caribbean company and SRI will have the full benefit of C&WJ’s extensive suite of telecommunications solutions including the regional Multi-Protocol Label Switching technology (MPLS), which will greatly enhance connectivity between SRI’s offices in Jamaica and resorts across the Caribbean. The MPLS technology will also greatly improve the hotel chain’s connectivity with its worldwide marketing representatives in the United States.

Among other provisions, the agreement will see the Sandals group benefiting from having a bandwidth-on-demand service to the C&WJ IP core network that will offer the following features:

• Multiple services provided over a single fibre connection
• Ability to prioritize traffic by routing bandwidth via classes of service
• Service monitored and managed 24-hours.
• Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) provided and managed as part of the service offering.

Cable & Wireless has also leveraged its regional position to provide Sandals with a Regional mobile Closed User Group service to allow unlimited calling across the Caribbean for the Sandals Group at one flat rate with a single rate for roaming within the region.

Commenting on the deal with C&W, Adam Stewart, SRI’s CEO said “As our team at Sandals implements our business strategies to consistently exceed the expectations of the hospitality industry and at the same time efficiently handle our business’ growth, we need to have the most comprehensive telecommunications package to meet our rapidly growing needs.”

“We analyzed all our current telecoms services and providers, and what was needed to move forward.  In the past, we have used different service providers for our mobile, Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), fixed lines and internet services, based on our needs, pricing and the ongoing services we received.  As our Group expands, it is critical that we upgrade to the most efficient, innovative telecoms system available.  Cable & Wireless provided us with the cutting edge technology needed and a comprehensive package of services, and we are pleased to choose them as our primary provider going forward,” he added.
Phil Green, CEO of C&WJ, said, “Our aim is to provide our valued customers at Sandals Resorts with a complete array of competitively priced services backed by the best service in the industry.  We have the best products and workforce to do this, and are dedicated to working with Sandals to meet their stated objectives.  Going forward, Sandals will enjoy the best that C&WJ has to offer, including reductions in telecommunication and call charges, greater bandwidth providing secure service and enhanced customer satisfaction, improved in-house telecommunications services, all backed by our unparalleled client relationship commitment.”

To begin the service upgrades, C&WJ’s MetroNet Service will be rolled out to 17 Sandals properties across the Caribbean & MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) technology will be deployed to five of the chain’s properties within the region – Sandals in Antigua, St. Lucia, and Jamaica and Beaches in Turks and Caicos.  C&WJ will use multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) technology to provide services that are fast, secure, scalable and flexible---routing traffic around failures, congestion and bottlenecks. 

MPLS provides management intelligence to ensure that network traffic is classified, prioritized, and scheduled in an optimal way, efficiently servicing bandwidth hungry, time-sensitive applications.  It also simplifies network operations significantly, and is based on industry wide standards.  MetroNet delivers efficient and secure managed Ethernet connectivity between sites, enabling Local Area Network (LANs) to connect seamlessly.

Cable & Wireless’ Business VOIP product will allow the properties to realize major cost reductions in their international traffic by providing them with a solution that will provide several options with one low monthly cost for international calls.