may neither provide the model the financial institutions think they want nor meet the desires environmental agencies have on their wish list. Furthermore, no single company has the best of everything,
Pioneer . . . with experience by Chris Butler
How many people reading this article can say with confidence that they will fulfil their obligations to their investors, their shareholders and their customers in the coming months and years ahead? The following may all be obvious to many of you, however, perhaps we have got to the point of not seeing the wood for the trees.
The objective of a submarine cable system is to provide a reliable cost-effective service for its users. A consummate installation depends on the combination of leading edge and reliable technology, excellent information and the most effective planning and procedures that exist in the market place. Even then the results of this hypothetical idyllic performance 45
although we all know this may be claimed. All these elements should all be as obvious as the fact that the purpose of system suppliers, cable installers and service companies is, ultimately, to make a profit. It is imperative to secure the long-term success of the industry with continued development and improvements in technology. In order to achieve this companies involved in the submarine cable business require sufficient means with which to improve the marketplace. I think it is appropriate, therefore, that the industry takes a step or two back for serious consideration of where it has been and, more crucially, where it plans to go. Unfortunately we have already reached the unacceptable situation of customers avoiding additional costs whilst contractors try to increase revenue by claiming CV’s - in other words the adversarial contracts mentioned in the last issue of Submarine Telecoms Forum. The trouble is