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GIBRALTAR HOSTING AND ISP FACILITIES
- GIBRALTAR INTERNET WEB DESIGN
SERVICES
- GIBRALTAR PAYMENT PROCESSING
- GIBRALTAR BANKING FACILITIES
Gibraltar
Hosting and ISP Facilities
After
the long awaited Gibraltar Telecommunications
Ordinance 2001 finally came into effect on the
19th July 2001, and a regulatory authority was
set up, full liberalisation of the telecommunications
industry in Gibraltar led to a reorganisation
of the sector.
Until
2002, the two main Gibraltar telecommunications
companies, Gibraltar Telecommunications Limited
(GibTel) and Gibraltar Nynex Communications Limited
(Nynex), had been offering a range of Internet
services for some time, operating
a digital telephone system which was becoming
increasingly fibre optic, and providing ISDN and
leased lines from at least 64kb with sufficiently
large bandwidth for international users. The local
telephony service was operated by Nynex under
a government licence (the government owned half
the company) and the international link, via the
UK by satellite, was run by GibTel which was a
joint venture between the Gibraltar government
and British Telecom plc.
In
mid-2000, Nynex sold its 50 per cent share to
BT so in practice both telecommunications companies
were 50/50 joint ventures between BT and the Gibraltar
government. BT's stake was then acquired by Verizon
Communications.
GNC
and Gibraltar Telecommunications International
Limited (Gibtel) were brought into common ownership
in 2001, and rebranded as Gibtelecom in 2002.
Gibraltar NYNEX Communications Limited (GNC) changed
its name to Gibtelecom Limited as from 1 October
2003. Gibtelecom is now a joint venture company
owned jointly by Verizon Communications of the
USA and the Government of Gibraltar. The Gibtelecom
Group comprises Gibraltar Nynex Communications
(GNC), Gibraltar Telecommunications International
(Gibtel) and GNC's wholly owned Internet services
subsidiary company, Gibconnect.
The
Gibtelecom Group continues to provide fixed, wireless
and Internet services. The company employs around
140 people and provides fixed line, wireless and
internet services. The company services some 25,000
fixed line customers and over 14,000 mobile customers.
In
April 2007, it was announced that Telekom
Slovenije had completed its purchase of Verizon
Communication's 50% shareholding in Gibtelecom,
the main provider of telecommunications services
in Gibraltar.
Commenting
on the move, the Chairman of the Company, and
Minister for Heritage, Culture, Youth, and Sport,
Fabian Vinet stated that: “The sale announcement
brings to an end the speculation concerning Verizon
Communications Inc's exit from Gibraltar as part
of their strategy of rationalising their world
wide investments."
He
continued: “The Government looked forward
to the new partnership with Telekom Slovenije
and the two Companies working together in continuing
to advance technologies and deliver world class
communications in Gibraltar."
Vinet
went on to express the Gibraltar government’s
and the company’s appreciation “for
the instrumental part they and their predecessors,
Bell Atlantic and Nynex, had played in developing
Gibraltar’s telecommunications".
The
Telekom Slovenije group is the main telecommunications
provider in Slovenia, serving a population of
2 million people with fixed line and internet
services, together with mobile services through
its subsidiary, Mobitel.
There
are a number of ISPs of which Gibnet Limited is
one of the most prominent, offering ADSL among
other facilities. Many smaller companies offer
various types of support service for site development.
The
effects of liberalisation are now being felt as
new players come into the market, quality improves
and the prices of many services fall in real terms.
The Government says it views these developments
as fundamental for the growth and development
of an Information Society.
Gibraltar's
main achievements in e-commerce so far have been
in the betting and financial derivatives sectors,
where a number of British companies have re-located
to take advantage of high-quality telecommunications
and Internet support from the local operators.
Victor Chandler has the highest profile, but his
is just one company among many that have set up
on the Rock.
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Gibraltar
Internet Web-Design Services
While
Internet services can be supplied from and to
virtually anywhere in the world an Internet business
based in Gibraltar will be able to use efficient
local specialist web site designers and administrators
providing a range of services:
- Web
Design - using state-of-the-art technology offering
java scripting, customised animation design
and custom logo creation. A .gi domain name
is also provided
- Administration
and regular updating of websites;
- Promotion,
including listing of the web site with major
search engines.
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Gibraltar
Payment Processing
There
are banks in Gibraltar that provide merchant account
facilities but these are useless for most purposes
since they often don't accommodate "customer
not present" transactions - i.e. no payments
can be accepted by credit card unless the customer
is there physically in order to sign for the transaction.
A
Gibraltar-based e-commerce business will therefore
probably decide to use an Internet payment software
provider and payment processor such as WorldPay.
These services charge approximately between 6%
and 9% in commission.
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Gibraltar
Banking Facilities
The
Financial Services Commission regulates banking
in Gibraltar under The Banking Ordinance 1992.
A substantial amount of subsequent legislation
has kept Gibraltar up with current EU regulatory
standards. See Offshore
Tax Regimes and Law
of Offshore for further details of the
regulatory regime and of the offshore taxation
regimes for banks.
Under
EU 'common passport' legislation any branch
of an authorised EU bank may establish itself
in Gibraltar subject only to notification procedures.
Likewise a Gibraltar-licensed bank may set up
branches elsewhere in Europe. Most of the twenty
banks established in Gibraltar are branches
of major UK, European or US banks. Gibraltar-registered
banks have three branches elsewhere in Europe.
The
banks in Gibraltar provide a full range of commercial
services and are well connected internationally,
making this probably one of the better jurisdictions
in which to operate e-commerce operations from
a financial services point of view, and of course
transactions, balances and remittances will
not be taxed as long as the appropriate corporate
set-up has been structured.
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