Cable & Wireless plc was a British
telecommunications company. In the mid-1980s, it became the first company in the UK to offer an alternative
telephone service to
British Telecom (via subsidiary
Mercury Communications). The company later offered
cable TV to its customers, but it sold its cable assets to
NTL in 2000. It remained a significant player in the UK telecoms market and in certain overseas markets, especially in the former British colonies of the Caribbean, where it was formerly the monopoly incumbent. It was also the main supplier of communication in the British South Atlantic, including
Saint Helena and the
Falkland Islands. It was listed on the
London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the
FTSE 100 Index.