Cable&Wireless Worldwide aims to become the first choice communications integrator specialising in the mission critical needs of large users of telecoms. Today we are one of the world's leading international communications companies specialising in providing critical communication network and services in the UK and globally. We work with large corporates, multinational companies, governments, carrier customers and resellers providing a range of high quality managed voice, data and IP based services and applications across the UK, Asia Pacific, India, Middle East & Africa, Continental Europe and North America.

We own the UK's biggest fibre network dedicated to business users of telecommunications and have an international cable network that provides connectivity to 153 countries, either directly or indirectly through partners, reaching across the Atlantic Ocean, through Europe and on to India and throughout Asia. Spanning approximately 500,000km in length, including interests in more than 69 major global cable systems, our next-generation network improves the quality and performance of telecommunications services through our use of advance optical and IP transmission.

We also have a Multi-Service Platform that runs across our next-generation network, offering customers a single environment for all their telecommunications requirements. This platform provides the capability to integrate closely customer voice and data applications with the Cable&Wireless Worldwide network, reducing costs for both customers and Cable&Wireless Worldwide.

At Cable&Wireless Worldwide, we've put customer service at the heart of our strategy and we work to establish close relationships with our customers and a detailed understanding of their business challenges. Many of the products and services we offer to customers are typically in constant use and tightly integrated into customers' operational activity. A deep understanding of the ways in which our services are used, how they contribute to the success of customers' businesses and how they might be further developed to generate additional value is one of the ways in which we differentiate ourselves and our customer service offering. We offer teams of sector, service and technical specialist for our customers to ensure we have the capability to deliver an enhanced level of service.

Cable&Wireless is one of the world's leading international communications companies. For more than 130 years Cable&Wireless has provided telecommunications services, networks and equipment to business, government and residential customers around the world. Cable&Wireless traces its history to a number of British telegraph companies founded by Sir John Pender in the 1860s. In 1866, a Pender-led consortium laid the first submarine cable across the Atlantic Ocean using Brunel's ship, the "Great Eastern". The Great Eastern also laid the cable from Bombay to Porthcurno in the far south west of England in 1870, the first cable into what subsequently became, for a period, the biggest cable station in the world. Following this success, further submarine cables were laid from the United Kingdom to the Caribbean, Asia, Australia and the United States.

With the development of wireless telegraphy, the Eastern and Associated Telegraph Company expanded its interests by merging with the Wireless Telegraph Company founded by Marconi in 1929 to form the Imperial and International Communications Company. This merger led to the formation of the biggest wireless and cable company in the world and the company was renamed Cable & Wireless Limited in 1934.

During World War II, Cable&Wireless' communications network played a vital strategic role and, following the war, the company was nationalised acknowledging the vital importance of the international communications infrastructure. Cable&Wireless became the international communications business of the British Post Office.

Cable&Wireless was one of the first privatisations of the Thatcher government with the initial sale of 49% of Cable&Wireless in 1981. The remaining 51% was offered to the public in two tranches in 1983 and 1985. In 1981, Mercury Communications was created within the Cable&Wireless Group as a competitor to BT to provide fixed line telecommunications services in the United Kingdom. In 1993, One2One, a Mercury Communications division, launched mobile communications to the UK consumer market. In 1997, Mercury merged with several UK telecommunications operators and was renamed Cable & Wireless Communications
(CW Communications); Cable&Wireless owned a 53% stake in CW Communications.

Following the Mercury merger, Cable&Wireless initiated a significant disposal programme, which included the following disposals: of the Cable&Wireless Communication Group's stake in One2One to Deutsche Telekom in 1999, its CW Communications consumer operations stake to NTL in 2000, its Hong Kong Telecom stake to PCCW in 2000 and its Australian Optus stake to Singapore Telecom in 2001. At the same time, the Cable&Wireless Group began developing its business around a global IP network with a strategy to sell global IP services and build its hosting expertise.

In 2003, Sir Richard Lapthorne was appointed as Chairman to lead a turnaround of the business following a downturn in financial performance. This turnaround included resolving a significant tax issue relating to its disposal of the Cable&Wireless Group's stake in One2One, the sale of the Japanese business and the exit from the loss-making US operations. In 2004, Cable&Wireless successfully competed for the opportunity to purchase a stake in Monaco Telecom.

The following year, in a transformational move, Cable&Wireless bought Energis, an acquisition which strengthened Cable & Wireless' position in the United Kingdom. In 2006, Cable&Wireless internally re-structured into two standalone divisions - Cable&Wireless International (since renamed the Cable&Wireless Communications Group) and Cable&Wireless Europe, Asia & US (EAUS), (since renamed the Cable&Wireless Worldwide Group).

In 2008, Cable&Wireless completed the purchase of THUS Group plc, a UK telecommunications group. The integration of Thus is ongoing and a new company, Thus Limited, has been set up as a stand-alone business within the Cable&Wireless Worldwide Group focused on offering a full suite of advanced business communications to small and medium sized enterprises.

In November 2009, the Cable and Wireless plc Board announced its intention to separate the Cable&Wireless Communications Group and the Cable&Wireless Worldwide Group, reflecting its belief that the businesses had reached a position where they would deliver increased value to shareholders as separately listed companies. The separation is the culmination of work which began in April 2006, when Cable and Wireless plc created two largely distinct operating units under the Cable and Wireless plc umbrella to reflect their differing characteristics and the establishment of clear strategies for both.

On 26th March 2010, Cable&Wireless Worldwide demerged from Cable and Wireless plc and was listed as a public company on the London Stock Exchange

Cable&Wireless Worldwide aims to be the first choice communications integrator specialising in the mission critical needs of large users of telecommunications. Our customers rely on the telecommunications infrastructure and services that we provide in order to operate their businesses.

We'll achieve this goal by implementing the following strategy:

• Working closely with our customers and differentiating through a tiered customer service model that is ‘right first time', stable, proactive, responsive, and positions Cable&Wireless Worldwide as ‘easy to do business with';
• Continuing to evolve a market-leading product suite of advanced network-based services and solutions, which is attractive to the large users of telecommunications, focused on our next-generation network and Multi-Service Platform technology;
• Increasing the share of revenue generated by our strategic product set of Data, IP and application services, which attract higher margins and are in greater demand than products such as traditional voice and legacy services;
• Continuing to expand our network and technologies to improve both margin and capability to meet customer demand, both in the United Kingdom and in our global footprint;
• Maintaining our focus on efficiency in our network and service operations;
• Increasing focus on emerging markets in Asia Pacific, India and the Middle East & Africa to capitalise on increasing global demand; and
• Leveraging our scale and product capability in the small and medium sized enterprise sector through the Thus brand.

The market for our core Data, IP and Hosting products and services in the United Kingdom and overseas is expected to continue to grow, alongside increased demand for telecommunications services from enterprises in the emerging markets which we target.

Our extensive UK and global network, together with our product suite and service focus, positions us to successfully exploit these growing markets and to build on our track record of increasing market share in the UK and overseas.

Cable&Wireless Worldwide has a number of significant competitive strengths:

Focus on large users of telecommunications

Our strategy is to focus on large users of telecommunications in all our markets and we have particular strength in the retail, financial services, utilities, government and media sectors, where companies are highly dependent on communications infrastructure. Our strategy enables us to focus on delivering specific products and services for customers that address their need to simplify communications, reduce costs and enable new business models. See Sectors.

Next-generation network and delivery platform

Cable&Wireless Worldwide owns the UK's largest fibre network dedicated to business users of telecommunications and we have an international cable network that provides connectivity to 153 countries, either directly or through partners, reaching across the Atlantic Ocean, through Europe and on to India and throughout Asia. These networks have inbuilt resilience with capability to re-route traffic across diverse paths in the event of failure of one or more paths and, especially at the international level, this is a significant advantage over many competitors.

Our Multi-Service Platform is an IP-based next-generation platform that operates across our next-generation network and offers customers a single environment for their telecommunications requirements. It provides the ability to integrate customer voice and data applications closely with our network to address the growing demand for capability from customers. See Our Network.

Customer service

We've put customer service at the very heart of our strategy and work to establish close relationships with our customers, and a detailed understanding of their business challenges. Many of the products and services we offer are typically in constant use by customers and tightly integrated into their operational activity. A deep understanding of the ways in which they are used, how they contribute to the success of customers' business, how they might be further developed to generate additional value, alongside our customer service offering is a key differentiator. We operate teams of sector, service and technical specialists to ensure we have the capability to meet not only our contractual service commitments, but also to deliver an enhanced level of customer service to our customers.

Product suite

We offer a wide range of products and services focusing on advanced IP-based solutions that help customers achieve their business objectives. This suite of products enables customers to build a package of telecommunications solutions that address their business requirements. Our next-generation network and Multi-Service Platform have enabled us to bring new high-quality next-generation products to market, such as Managed Video Conferencing, digital signage and voice recognition products. In the six months ended 30 September 2009, more than half of our revenue was generated from the Data, IP and Hosting product suite illustrating an increased demand for these services rather than traditional voice and data products.

Management team

The Cable&Wireless Worldwide management team is led by John Pluthero and Jim Marsh. Since their arrival in November 2005 they have led the turnaround of the Company. Our business has been restructured to focus on higher margin products and services whilst costs have been significantly reduced. For both the financial year ended 31 March 2009 and the six months ended 30 September 2009, Cable&Wireless Worldwide was profitable and generated positive operating cash flow.

John Pluthero and Jim Marsh are supported by strong management and employees throughout the business who are focused on providing exceptional customer service.

Brand strength

Cable&Wireless has a strong, recognised brand which has been used for more than 70 years. Cable&Wireless Worldwide will continue to use the brand in the areas where we currently operate.