The company had been providing international calling access using both World Direct and the International Call Authorisation System - ICAS - since January of 2005.  The use of ICAS, which was introduced in 1989, has been discontinued, effective February 1.

DIRECT EXCHANGE LINE

World Direct provides a similar level of security as ICAS, the company stated in a release.  Along with added convenience, Cable & Wireless continues to offer direct exchange line and private switchboard (PBX) customers the flexibility to call overseas from any fixed line in Jamaica and have the charges billed to their own account.

The World Direct service also offers speed dial; the capacity to have a security PIN number of between 4 and 10 digits and the ability to customise call restriction options.

World Direct's Call Restriction features allow customers to decide if and when they wish to have access to international calling available on their lines.  It also allows customers to set a threshold for the number of calls they wish to make each day.

Cable & Wireless' Vice-President for Corporate Communication and Corporate Affairs, Errol K. Miller, in commenting on the full deployment of World Direct said, "This is simply the coincidence of two factors - a response to customers' demands for a secure, simpler and more flexible system on the one hand, and the fact that the system which supported ICAS has now become obsolete and is no longer supported by the manufacturers."

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