The first telephones were introduced to Gibraltar in 1886 by a private company which was later taken over by the colonial authorities. Since 1926, the telephone service was operated by the City Council. Upon the approval of the 1969 Constitution and the dissolution of the City Council, the telephone service was transferred to the newly formed Government of Gibraltar. Until 1990, all telephone services were operated by the Gibraltar Government Telephone Department. International circuits were provided by Cable & Wireless, which had been founded as the Falmouth, Malta, Gibraltar Telegraph Company in 1869. This later operated as the Eastern Telegraph Company from Mount Pleasant in Gibraltar. However, Cable & Wireless left Gibraltar in 1987. On 1 January 1988, British Telecom and the Government of Gibraltar formed a joint venture company called Gibraltar Telecommunications International Ltd to operate Gibraltar's international telecommunications services. Gibtel was subsequently granted a licence to offer mobile telephony introducing a GSM900 network. In 1990, the Government decided to privatise its Telephone Department and therefore entered into a joint venture with Nynex of the United States. Gibraltar Nynex Communications Ltd became responsible for fixed-line telephony. GNC was the first acquisition of Nynex outside the Americas. In 1997, GNC, through its wholly owned subsidiary, GNC Networks, commenced Internet services. GNC Networks was later renamed GibConnect. ADSL services were introduced in 2002. In 2001, BT sold its 50% stake in Gibtel to GNC. Both companies subsequently merged to form Gibtelecom, a joint venture between the Government of Gibraltar and Nynex's successor company, Verizon. The name Gibtelecom begun to be used in July 2002, and as of 1 October 2003 this name was formally adopted by the company. In April 2007, Verizon sold its shares to Telekom Slovenije which is the incumbent part-state owned telecommunications operator in Slovenia and is quoted on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. Telekom Slovenije paid €36.7m for Verizon's 50 per cent stake in Gibtelecom. In 2009, the Government of Gibraltar announced it may sell its stake in Gibtelecom. However, as at October 2010, no decision has been made. The 50 percent share of Gibtelecom owned by Telecom Slovenia in 2015 was paid for by the Gibraltar Savings Bank, which now owns 100 percent of the shares in the company.
Board
Gibtelecom's Board of Directors is made up of six directors, whereas the owners nominate three each. The current Chairman is Joseph Garcia, Minister for Enterprise, Development & Technology and Deputy Chief Minister of Gibraltar, which succeeded Joe Holliday in December 2011. Holliday was appointed to this post as Minister for Telecommunications in 2007. However, in October 2010, the Government of Gibraltar announced that EU Communications Directives had to be enforced so that a same Minister cannot "exercise powers under the Directives and also be involved in ownership and control functions of a telecommunications company in Gibraltar". Therefore, competences over Telecommunications were transferred to the Minister of Housing, retaining Holliday as Chairman of Gibtelecom. Tim Bristow was the first CEO, a post had held since the company's foundation in 2001, before he stepped down at the end of 2018. Previously, he was the Financial Secretary of Gibraltar, a post he held for several years.
Services
Gibtelecom is authorised to provide fixed line, internet, mobile, satellite and other radio-communication services under Gibraltar's Communications Act 2006. This authorisation supplements the licences issued by the Government of Gibraltar on 1 August 2003 for a 15-year period, which in turn replaced the previous licences issued to GNC in May 1990 and Gibtel in January 1988. Gibtelecom is structured around three brands: GibWireline, Gibtel and GibConnect.
GibWireline is the brand under which fixed line telephony services are provided. Gibtelecom numbers are eight digits long including a 200 prefix.
Gibtel is the mobile phone services brand. Gibtelecom offers GSM, 3G and LTE services, and has kept the old brand from Gibraltar Telecommunications International.
GibConnect offers internet connectivity, providing solutions ranging from dial-up and ADSL accesses to corporate internet links. Gibtelecom has kept GNC's old brand.
The Gibraltar Regulatory Authority has designated Gibtelecom as having Significant Market Power and therefore it has imposed certain obligations on Gibtelecom, with price controls being one of them. Gibtelecom has also been obliged to unbundle the local loop, although none of the other Gibraltar-based telecom providers have asked to use it.
International connectivity
of Spain, Cable & Wireless and Interoute of the United Kingdom provide international connectivity to Gibtelecom. Gibtelecom is also a partner in the Europe India Gateway cable system, which has a landing point in Gibraltar.
