Communications on the Isle of Man
Encyclopedia
The Isle of Man
benefits from an extremely modern and extensive communications infrastructure, which underpins the main sectors of the Island's economy.
) to St Bees
in Cumbria using the chartered cable ship Resolute. The cable was single-core, with gutta-percha
insulation.
Twenty miles of overhead cable were also erected from Cranstal south to Ramsey, and on to Douglas. In England, the telegraph was connected to Whitehaven
and the circuits of the Electric Telegraph Company
.
The telegraph offices were located at 64 Athol Street, Douglas
(also the company's head office) and at East Quay, Ramsey (now Marina House).
On 10 August 1860 the company was statutorily incorporated by an Act of Tynwald
with a capital of £5,500.
The currents at Cranstal proved too strong, and in 1864 the cable was taken up and relaid further south, at Port-e-Vullen in Ramsey Bay. It was later relaid to land even further south at Port Cornaa.
Following the 1869 finalisation of UK telegraph nationalisation into a General Post Office
monopoly, the Isle of Man Telegraph Company was nationalised in 1870 under the Telegraph Act 1870
(an Act of Parliament) at a cost to the British Government of £16,106 (paid in 1872 following arbitration proceedings over the value). Prior to nationalisation, the island's telegraph operations had been performing poorly and the company's share price valued it at around £100.
Subsequent to nationalisation, operations were taken over by the GPO. The internal telegraph system was extended within a year to Castletown and Peel, however by then the previous lack of modern communications in Castletown had already started the Isle of Man Government on its move to Douglas.
Due to increasing usage in the years following nationalisation, further cables between Port Cornaa and St Bees were laid in 1875 and 1885.
By 1883 Smith's Directory listed several telegraph offices operated by the Post Office, in addition to those at Douglas, Ramsey, Castletown and Peel the telegraph was also available at Laxey, Ballaugh, and Port St. Mary.
Throughout the First World War, the cable landing station at Port Cornaa was guarded by the Isle of Man Volunteer Corps.
The undersea telegraph cables have been disused since the 1950s, but remain in place.
.
In 1889 George Gillmore, formerly an electrician for the GPO's Manx telegraph operations, was granted a licence by the Postmaster General to operate the Isle of Man's first telephone
service. Based in an exchange in Athol Street, early customers of Gilbert's telephone service included the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and the Isle of Man Railway
. Not having the resources to fund expansion or a link to England, Gillmore sold his licence to the National Telephone Company
and stayed on as their manager on the island.
By 1901 there were 600 subscribers, and the telephone system had been extended to Ramsey, Castletown, Peel, Port Erin, Port St. Mary and Onchan.
On 1 January 1912 the National Telephone Company was nationalised and merged into the General Post Office by the Telephone Transfer Act 1911
. Only Guernsey
, Portsmouth
and Hull
remained outside of the GPO.
The first off-island telephone link was established in 1929, with the laying of a cable by the CS Faraday between Port Erin and Ballyhornan
in Northern Ireland, a distance of 57 km, and then between Port Grenaugh
and Blackpool
, primarily to provide a link to Northern Ireland. The cable was completed on 6 June 1929 and the first call between the Isle of Man and the outside world was made on 28 June 1929 by Lieutenant Governor
Sir Claude Hill in Douglas to the Postmaster General in Liverpool. The cable initially carried only two trunk circuits.
In 1942, a pioneering VHF frequency-modulated radio-link was established between Creg-na-Baa and the UK to provide an alternative to the sub-sea cable. This has since been discontinued.
This was augmented on 24 June 1943 by a 74 kilometres (46 mi) long cable between Cemaes Bay in Anglesea
and Port Erin, which had the world's first submerged repeater, laid by HMCS Iris. The repeater doubled the possible number of circuits on the cable, and although it failed after only five months, its replacement worked for seven years.
In 1962 a further undersea cable was laid by HMTS Ariel between Colwyn Bay
and the Island.
Historically, the telephone system on the Isle of Man had been run as a monopoly by the British General Post Office
, and later British Telecommunications, and operated as part of the Liverpool telephone district.
By 1985 the privatised British Telecom had inherited the telephone operations of the GPO, including those on the Isle of Man. At this time the Manx Government announced that it would award a 20-year licence to operate the telephone system in a tender process. As part of this process, in 1986 British Telecom created a Manx-registered subsidiary company, Manx Telecom
, to bid for the tender. It was believed that a local identity and management would be more politically acceptable in the tendering process as they competed with Cable & Wireless
to win the licence. Manx Telecom won the tender, and commenced operations under the new identity from 1 January 1987.
On 28 March 1988 an 8000 telephone circuit fibre optic cable, the longest unregenerated system in Europe, was inaugurated. In links Port Grenaugh to Silecroft
in Cumbria, and was laid in September 1987. The cable was buried in the seabed along its entire length.
A further fibre optic cable, known as BT-MT1 was laid in October 1990 between Millom
in Cumbria and Douglas
, a distance of 43 nautical miles (79.6 km). Jointly operated by BT and Manx Telecom, it provides six channels each with a bandwidth of 140 Mb/s. This cable remains in use today.
In July 1992, Mercury Communications
laid the LANIS fibre-optic cables. LANIS-1 runs for 61 nautical miles (113 km) between Port Grenaugh and Blackpool, and LANIS-2 runs for 36 nautical miles (66.7 km) between the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. They have six channels each with a bandwidth of 565 Mbit/s. The LANIS cables are now operated by Cable & Wireless
. The LANIS-1 cable was damaged 600 m off Port Grenaugh on 27 November 2006, causing loss of the link and resulting in temporary Internet access issues for some Manx customers whilst it was awaiting repair.
On 17 November 2001 Manx Telecom became part of mmO2 following the demerger of BT Wireless's operations from BT Group, and the company is now owned by Telefónica.
In December 2007, the Manx Electricity Authority and its telecoms subsidiary, e-llan Communications, commissioned the lighting of a new undersea fibre-optic link. It was laid in 1999 between Blackpool and Douglas as part of the Isle of Man to England Interconnector
which connects the Manx electricity system to the UK's National Grid.
In March 2009, BlueWave Communications installed microwave links to Ireland and the UK. These were the first off-island microwave links.
According to the CIA World Factbook, in 1999 there were 51,000 fixed telephone lines in use in the Isle of Man.
The Isle of Man is included within the UK telephone numbering system
, and is accessed externally via UK area codes, rather than by its own country calling code. The area codes currently in use are: +44 1624 (landlines) and +44 7524 / +44 7624 / +44 7924 (mobiles).
Submarine cables in Manx waters are governed by the Submarine Cables Act 2003 (an Act of Tynwald
).
There are more small businesses on the Isle of Man that sell Telephone Service but (like Sure and Wi-Manx) use the Manx Telecom phone lines.
network. In November 2005, the company became the first in Europe to offer its customers an HSDPA (3.5G) service.
National Top Level Domain (TLD) and has ultimate responsibility for its use. The domain is managed on a daily basis by Domicilium (IOM) Limited, an island based internet service provider. Broadband internet services are available through five local providers which are Wi-Manx, Domicilium, and Manx Telecom
.
station for the island is Manx Radio
. Manx Radio is part funded by government grant, and partly by advertising.
There are two other Manx-based FM radio stations, Energy FM
and 3 FM.
BBC national radio stations are also relayed locally via a transmitter located to the south of Douglas, relayed from Sandale transmitting station in Cumbria. The Douglas transmitter also broadcasts the BBC's DAB digital radio services and Classic FM
.
Manx Radio is the only local service to broadcast on AM medium wave. No UK services are relayed via local AM transmitters. No longwave
stations operate from the Island, although one (Musicmann279) was proposed.
A Channel 4 operated DAB multiplex is proposed, but there are currently no proposals to broadcast any of the three insular FM stations on DAB.
and the ITV
region is Granada
.
Many TV services are available by satellite, such as Sky, and Freesat
from the Astra 2/Eurobird 1 group, as well as services from a range of other satellites around Europe such as Astra 1 and Hotbird.
In some areas, terrestrial television
(including digital terrestrial) from the United Kingdom
(Freeview) or Republic of Ireland
can also be received.
Analogue television transmission ceased between 2008 and 2009, when limited local transmission of digital terrestrial television
commenced. The UK's television licence
regime extends to the Island.
There is no Island-specific opt-out of the BBC regional news programme North West Tonight
, in the way that the Channel Islands
get their own version of Spotlight
.
ITV
television has been available on the Isle of Man since 1 September 1961 when Border Television was launched, initially only directly from the Caldbeck transmitting station
in Cumbria. On 26 March 1965 Border Television commenced relay of their signal through a local transmitter on Richmond Hill, 542 ft (165.2 m) above sea level and three miles (5 km) from the centre of Douglas. The site allowed reliable reception of the Calbeck signal, which is rebroadcast on a different frequency. The 200 ft (61 m) high transmission tower was re-sited from London, where it had been used for early ITV transmissions. Following a realignment of ITV regional services and the digital switchover, the Richmond Hill relay switched ITV broadcasts to Granada Television
on Thursday 17 July 2009.
The four analogue channels are now transmitted from a 195 ft (59.4 m) high transmitter on a hill to the south of Douglas. The transmitter is operated by National Grid Wireless and rebroadcasts signals received from Caldbeck. There are further sub-relay transmitters across the island.
The Broadcasting Act 1993 (An Act of Tynwald) allows for the establishment of local television services. Only one application for a licence to run such a service was received by the Communications Commission
. That application was rejected.
According to the CIA World Factbook, as of 1999 there were 27,490 televisions in use in the Isle of Man.
issues its own stamps for use within the island and for sending post off-island. Only Manx stamps are valid for sending mail using the postal system. The Isle of Man adopted postcodes in 1993 using the prefix IM to fit in with the already established UK
postcode
system.
Isle of Man
The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...
benefits from an extremely modern and extensive communications infrastructure, which underpins the main sectors of the Island's economy.
Telegraph
The history of Manx telecommunications starts in 1859, when the Isle of Man Electric Telegraph Company was formed on the island with the intention of connecting across the island by telegraph, and allowing messages to be sent onwards to the UK. In August 1859, a 36 nautical miles (66.7 km) long cable was commissioned from Glass, Elliot and Company of Greenwich and laid from Cranstal (north of RamseyRamsey, Isle of Man
Ramsey is a town in the north of the Isle of Man. It is the second largest town on the island after Douglas. Its population is 7,309 according to the 2006 census . It has one of the biggest harbours on the island, and has a prominent derelict pier, called the Queen's Pier. It was formerly one of...
) to St Bees
St Bees
St Bees is a village and civil parish in the Copeland district of Cumbria, in the North of England, about five miles west southwest of Whitehaven. The parish had a population of 1,717 according to the 2001 census. Within the parish is St...
in Cumbria using the chartered cable ship Resolute. The cable was single-core, with gutta-percha
Gutta-percha
Gutta-percha is a genus of tropical trees native to Southeast Asia and northern Australasia, from Taiwan south to the Malay Peninsula and east to the Solomon Islands. The same term is used to refer to an inelastic natural latex produced from the sap of these trees, particularly from the species...
insulation.
Twenty miles of overhead cable were also erected from Cranstal south to Ramsey, and on to Douglas. In England, the telegraph was connected to Whitehaven
Whitehaven
Whitehaven is a small town and port on the coast of Cumbria, England, which lies equidistant between the county's two largest settlements, Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness, and is served by the Cumbrian Coast Line and the A595 road...
and the circuits of the Electric Telegraph Company
Electric Telegraph Company
The Electric Telegraph Company was the world's first public telegraph company founded in the United Kingdom in 1846 by Sir William Fothergill Cooke and John Lewis Ricardo, MP for Stoke-on-Trent....
.
The telegraph offices were located at 64 Athol Street, Douglas
Douglas, Isle of Man
right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...
(also the company's head office) and at East Quay, Ramsey (now Marina House).
On 10 August 1860 the company was statutorily incorporated by an Act of Tynwald
Act of Tynwald
An Act of Tynwald is a statute passed by Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man.-Structure:Acts of Tynwald are structured in a similar format to Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-Commencement:...
with a capital of £5,500.
The currents at Cranstal proved too strong, and in 1864 the cable was taken up and relaid further south, at Port-e-Vullen in Ramsey Bay. It was later relaid to land even further south at Port Cornaa.
Following the 1869 finalisation of UK telegraph nationalisation into a General Post Office
General Post Office
General Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
monopoly, the Isle of Man Telegraph Company was nationalised in 1870 under the Telegraph Act 1870
Telegraph Act 1870
The Telegraph Act 1870 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It extended the Telegraph Act 1868 to cover the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, thus allowing the British state to nationalise telegraph companies in these territories...
(an Act of Parliament) at a cost to the British Government of £16,106 (paid in 1872 following arbitration proceedings over the value). Prior to nationalisation, the island's telegraph operations had been performing poorly and the company's share price valued it at around £100.
Subsequent to nationalisation, operations were taken over by the GPO. The internal telegraph system was extended within a year to Castletown and Peel, however by then the previous lack of modern communications in Castletown had already started the Isle of Man Government on its move to Douglas.
Due to increasing usage in the years following nationalisation, further cables between Port Cornaa and St Bees were laid in 1875 and 1885.
By 1883 Smith's Directory listed several telegraph offices operated by the Post Office, in addition to those at Douglas, Ramsey, Castletown and Peel the telegraph was also available at Laxey, Ballaugh, and Port St. Mary.
Throughout the First World War, the cable landing station at Port Cornaa was guarded by the Isle of Man Volunteer Corps.
The undersea telegraph cables have been disused since the 1950s, but remain in place.
Telephones
The main telephone provider on the Isle of Man today is Manx TelecomManx Telecom
Manx Telecom is the primary provider of broadband and telecommunications on the Isle of Man. It was acquired by Telefónica in , but was sold to two private equity groups in 2010.- History :...
.
In 1889 George Gillmore, formerly an electrician for the GPO's Manx telegraph operations, was granted a licence by the Postmaster General to operate the Isle of Man's first telephone
Telephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
service. Based in an exchange in Athol Street, early customers of Gilbert's telephone service included the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company and the Isle of Man Railway
Isle of Man Railway
The Isle of Man Railway is a narrow gauge steam-operated railway connecting Douglas with Castletown and Port Erin in the Isle of Man. The line is built to gauge and is long...
. Not having the resources to fund expansion or a link to England, Gillmore sold his licence to the National Telephone Company
National Telephone Company
The National Telephone Company was a British telephone company from 1881 until 1911 which brought together smaller local companies in the early years of the telephone...
and stayed on as their manager on the island.
By 1901 there were 600 subscribers, and the telephone system had been extended to Ramsey, Castletown, Peel, Port Erin, Port St. Mary and Onchan.
On 1 January 1912 the National Telephone Company was nationalised and merged into the General Post Office by the Telephone Transfer Act 1911
Telephone Transfer Act 1911
The Telephone Transfer Act 1911 was a United Kingdom statute, which nationalised the telephone companies. The National Telephone Company had become a monopoly and so the coalition Liberal and Labour government decided to take it into public hands....
. Only Guernsey
Guernsey
Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
, Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
and Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
remained outside of the GPO.
The first off-island telephone link was established in 1929, with the laying of a cable by the CS Faraday between Port Erin and Ballyhornan
Ballyhornan
Ballyhornan is a village and townland in eastern County Down, Northern Ireland, located along the coast of the Irish Sea. It is located less than 10 miles from Downpatrick, County Down, and it is near the site of the former RAF Bishopscourt installation...
in Northern Ireland, a distance of 57 km, and then between Port Grenaugh
Port Grenaugh
Port Grenaugh is a bay in the Isle of Man at the end of Glen Grenaugh, Santon and the mouth of an apparently unnamed stream which originates in the Newtown area of the parish by Ballakissack farm....
and Blackpool
Blackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, primarily to provide a link to Northern Ireland. The cable was completed on 6 June 1929 and the first call between the Isle of Man and the outside world was made on 28 June 1929 by Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of the Isle of Man
The Lieutenant Governor is the representative on the Isle of Man of the Lord of Mann . He/she has the power to grant Royal Assent and is styled His Excellency. In recent times the Governor has either been a retired diplomat or senior military officer...
Sir Claude Hill in Douglas to the Postmaster General in Liverpool. The cable initially carried only two trunk circuits.
In 1942, a pioneering VHF frequency-modulated radio-link was established between Creg-na-Baa and the UK to provide an alternative to the sub-sea cable. This has since been discontinued.
This was augmented on 24 June 1943 by a 74 kilometres (46 mi) long cable between Cemaes Bay in Anglesea
Anglesea
Anglesea may refer to:*Anglesea, Victoria, an Australian town*Anglesea Football Club, an Australian rules football club*Anglesea Borough, New Jersey, former borough, currently part of North Wildwood, New Jersey, United States...
and Port Erin, which had the world's first submerged repeater, laid by HMCS Iris. The repeater doubled the possible number of circuits on the cable, and although it failed after only five months, its replacement worked for seven years.
In 1962 a further undersea cable was laid by HMTS Ariel between Colwyn Bay
Colwyn Bay
- Demography :Prior to local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 Colwyn Bay was a municipal borough with a population of c.25,000, but in 1974 this designation disappeared leaving five separate parishes, known as communities in Wales, of which the one bearing the name Colwyn Bay encompassed...
and the Island.
Historically, the telephone system on the Isle of Man had been run as a monopoly by the British General Post Office
General Post Office
General Post Office is the name of the British postal system from 1660 until 1969.General Post Office may also refer to:* General Post Office, Perth* General Post Office, Sydney* General Post Office, Melbourne* General Post Office, Brisbane...
, and later British Telecommunications, and operated as part of the Liverpool telephone district.
By 1985 the privatised British Telecom had inherited the telephone operations of the GPO, including those on the Isle of Man. At this time the Manx Government announced that it would award a 20-year licence to operate the telephone system in a tender process. As part of this process, in 1986 British Telecom created a Manx-registered subsidiary company, Manx Telecom
Manx Telecom
Manx Telecom is the primary provider of broadband and telecommunications on the Isle of Man. It was acquired by Telefónica in , but was sold to two private equity groups in 2010.- History :...
, to bid for the tender. It was believed that a local identity and management would be more politically acceptable in the tendering process as they competed with Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC is a global telecommunications company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers...
to win the licence. Manx Telecom won the tender, and commenced operations under the new identity from 1 January 1987.
On 28 March 1988 an 8000 telephone circuit fibre optic cable, the longest unregenerated system in Europe, was inaugurated. In links Port Grenaugh to Silecroft
Silecroft
The village of Silecroft in Cumbria is in the parish of Whicham. It is situated between the towns of Millom and Bootle, and also neighbours the towns/villages of Haverigg, Kirksanton and Whitbeck....
in Cumbria, and was laid in September 1987. The cable was buried in the seabed along its entire length.
A further fibre optic cable, known as BT-MT1 was laid in October 1990 between Millom
Millom
Millom is a town and civil parish on the estuary of the River Duddon in the southwest of Cumbria, England. The name is Cumbrian dialect for "At the mills". The town is accessible both by rail and an A class road...
in Cumbria and Douglas
Douglas, Isle of Man
right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...
, a distance of 43 nautical miles (79.6 km). Jointly operated by BT and Manx Telecom, it provides six channels each with a bandwidth of 140 Mb/s. This cable remains in use today.
In July 1992, Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications
Mercury Communications was a national telephone company in the United Kingdom. The company was formed in 1981 as a subsidiary of Cable & Wireless to challenge the monopoly of British Telecom which was privatised in 1984...
laid the LANIS fibre-optic cables. LANIS-1 runs for 61 nautical miles (113 km) between Port Grenaugh and Blackpool, and LANIS-2 runs for 36 nautical miles (66.7 km) between the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland. They have six channels each with a bandwidth of 565 Mbit/s. The LANIS cables are now operated by Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless
Cable & Wireless Worldwide PLC is a global telecommunications company headquartered in Bracknell, United Kingdom. Cable & Wireless specialises in providing communication networks and services to large corporates, governments, carrier customers and resellers...
. The LANIS-1 cable was damaged 600 m off Port Grenaugh on 27 November 2006, causing loss of the link and resulting in temporary Internet access issues for some Manx customers whilst it was awaiting repair.
On 17 November 2001 Manx Telecom became part of mmO2 following the demerger of BT Wireless's operations from BT Group, and the company is now owned by Telefónica.
In December 2007, the Manx Electricity Authority and its telecoms subsidiary, e-llan Communications, commissioned the lighting of a new undersea fibre-optic link. It was laid in 1999 between Blackpool and Douglas as part of the Isle of Man to England Interconnector
Isle of Man to England Interconnector
The Isle of Man to England Interconnector is a submarine power cable connecting the transmission system of the Manx Electricity Authority to that of Great Britain. With an undersea section of approximately , it is the longest AC undersea cable in the world...
which connects the Manx electricity system to the UK's National Grid.
In March 2009, BlueWave Communications installed microwave links to Ireland and the UK. These were the first off-island microwave links.
According to the CIA World Factbook, in 1999 there were 51,000 fixed telephone lines in use in the Isle of Man.
The Isle of Man is included within the UK telephone numbering system
Telephone numbers in the United Kingdom
The UK telephone numbering plan, also known as the National Telephone Numbering Plan, is the system used for assigning telephone numbers in the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies...
, and is accessed externally via UK area codes, rather than by its own country calling code. The area codes currently in use are: +44 1624 (landlines) and +44 7524 / +44 7624 / +44 7924 (mobiles).
Submarine communications cables in service
- BT-MT1 (BT/Manx Telecom, 1990 - UK)
- LANIS-1 (Cable & Wireless, 1992 - UK)
- LANIS-2 (Cable & Wireless, 1992 - Northern Ireland (UK))
- Isle of Man to England Interconnector (Manx Electricity Authority, 2007 - UK)
Submarine cables in Manx waters are governed by the Submarine Cables Act 2003 (an Act of Tynwald
Act of Tynwald
An Act of Tynwald is a statute passed by Tynwald, the parliament of the Isle of Man.-Structure:Acts of Tynwald are structured in a similar format to Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.-Commencement:...
).
Telephone service providers
- Manx TelecomManx TelecomManx Telecom is the primary provider of broadband and telecommunications on the Isle of Man. It was acquired by Telefónica in , but was sold to two private equity groups in 2010.- History :...
- Sure (Mobiles only, Broadband and Home Phone is operated by Manx Telecom landlines)
- Cloud9Cloud9-Isle of Man - London - Gibraltar:Cloud9, then part of the Wire9 Telecom Plc group of companies acquired GSM and 3G Mobile Operator Government licenses in both the Isle of Man & Gibraltar in 2007 and were then further offered a GSM operator’s license in Jamaica...
(planned, but never operated as a telephone provide on the Isle of Man. Instead Cloud9 was sold, and is now a mobile roaming company. In the UK) - Wi-Manx (Use Manx Telecom landlines)
There are more small businesses on the Isle of Man that sell Telephone Service but (like Sure and Wi-Manx) use the Manx Telecom phone lines.
Mobile telephones
The mobile phone network operated by Manx Telecom has been used by O2 as an environment for developing and testing new products and services prior to wider rollout. In December 2001, the company became the first telecommunications operator in Europe to launch a live 3G3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
network. In November 2005, the company became the first in Europe to offer its customers an HSDPA (3.5G) service.
Internet
In 1996 the Isle of Man Government obtained permission to use the .im.im
.im is the Internet country code top-level domain for the Isle of Man. It is administered by the Government of the Isle of Man and managed on a day to day basis by Domicilium, an offshore Internet Service Provider based on the Isle of Man....
National Top Level Domain (TLD) and has ultimate responsibility for its use. The domain is managed on a daily basis by Domicilium (IOM) Limited, an island based internet service provider. Broadband internet services are available through five local providers which are Wi-Manx, Domicilium, and Manx Telecom
Manx Telecom
Manx Telecom is the primary provider of broadband and telecommunications on the Isle of Man. It was acquired by Telefónica in , but was sold to two private equity groups in 2010.- History :...
.
Radio
The public-service commercial radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
station for the island is Manx Radio
Manx Radio
Manx Radio is the national commercial radio station for the Isle of Man.The station began broadcasting on 29 June 1964, almost ten years before commercial radio was licensed in the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man, having its own government and laws, was not subject to the rules prohibiting...
. Manx Radio is part funded by government grant, and partly by advertising.
There are two other Manx-based FM radio stations, Energy FM
Energy FM (Isle of Man)
Energy FM is an Isle of Man based radio station which first started broadcasting in 2001 . The station plays music from the 50's right up to the current day with a selection of specialist shows that feature the worlds most upfront dance music and best of the 1980s...
and 3 FM.
BBC national radio stations are also relayed locally via a transmitter located to the south of Douglas, relayed from Sandale transmitting station in Cumbria. The Douglas transmitter also broadcasts the BBC's DAB digital radio services and Classic FM
Classic FM (UK)
Classic FM, one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations, broadcasts classical music in a popular and accessible style.-Overview:...
.
Manx Radio is the only local service to broadcast on AM medium wave. No UK services are relayed via local AM transmitters. No longwave
Longwave
In radio, longwave refers to parts of radio spectrum with relatively long wavelengths. The term is a historic one dating from the early 20th century, when the radio spectrum was considered to consist of long, medium and short wavelengths...
stations operate from the Island, although one (Musicmann279) was proposed.
A Channel 4 operated DAB multiplex is proposed, but there are currently no proposals to broadcast any of the three insular FM stations on DAB.
Transmitters
- Snaefell - Manx Radio, Energy FM, 3 FM
- Foxdale - Manx Radio (AM)
- The Howe (near Port St. Mary) - Energy FM
- Jurby - Energy FM, Manx Radio
- Ramsey - Energy FM, 3 FM
- Dreemskerry - Energy FM
- Douglas - Manx Radio, Energy FM, 3 FM, Radio 1, Radio 2, Radio 3, Radio 4, Classic FM, BBC DAB multiplex
Television
There is no Island-specific television service. Local transmitters retransmit UK Freeview broadcasts. The BBC region is BBC North WestBBC North West
BBC North West is the BBC English Region serving Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Cheshire, Walsden in West Yorkshire, the Isle of Man , north-west Derbyshire, the Yorkshire Dales including Settle and Ribblesdale, and southern Cumbria.BBC North West television output is also broadcast in...
and the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
region is Granada
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
.
Many TV services are available by satellite, such as Sky, and Freesat
Freesat
Freesat is a free-to-air digital satellite television joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc, serving the United Kingdom. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008...
from the Astra 2/Eurobird 1 group, as well as services from a range of other satellites around Europe such as Astra 1 and Hotbird.
In some areas, terrestrial television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
(including digital terrestrial) from the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(Freeview) or Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
can also be received.
Analogue television transmission ceased between 2008 and 2009, when limited local transmission of digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
commenced. The UK's television licence
Television licensing in the United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies, any household watching or recording live television transmissions is required to purchase a television licence every year. As of 2010, this costs £145.50 for colour and £49.00 for black and white. The licence is required to receive any live...
regime extends to the Island.
There is no Island-specific opt-out of the BBC regional news programme North West Tonight
BBC North West Tonight
BBC North West Tonight is a nightly regional news programme covering the North West of England. Produced by BBC North West, the programme airs at 6.30pm and at 10:25pm every weekday evening and is broadcast from the BBC's MediaCityUK studios at Salford Quays.-BBC North West region:The BBC North...
, in the way that the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
get their own version of Spotlight
Spotlight (BBC South West News)
Spotlight is the BBC's regional news programme for the southwest of England, covering Cornwall, Devon, West Dorset, and Somerset. There is also a special version of the programme for viewers in the Channel Islands. The main version of the programme broadcasts between 18:30 and 18:58 on weekdays,...
.
ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
television has been available on the Isle of Man since 1 September 1961 when Border Television was launched, initially only directly from the Caldbeck transmitting station
Caldbeck transmitting station
The Caldbeck transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated close to the village of Caldbeck, in Cumbria, England . It is owned and operated by Arqiva....
in Cumbria. On 26 March 1965 Border Television commenced relay of their signal through a local transmitter on Richmond Hill, 542 ft (165.2 m) above sea level and three miles (5 km) from the centre of Douglas. The site allowed reliable reception of the Calbeck signal, which is rebroadcast on a different frequency. The 200 ft (61 m) high transmission tower was re-sited from London, where it had been used for early ITV transmissions. Following a realignment of ITV regional services and the digital switchover, the Richmond Hill relay switched ITV broadcasts to Granada Television
Granada Television
Granada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
on Thursday 17 July 2009.
The four analogue channels are now transmitted from a 195 ft (59.4 m) high transmitter on a hill to the south of Douglas. The transmitter is operated by National Grid Wireless and rebroadcasts signals received from Caldbeck. There are further sub-relay transmitters across the island.
The Broadcasting Act 1993 (An Act of Tynwald) allows for the establishment of local television services. Only one application for a licence to run such a service was received by the Communications Commission
Communications Commission
The Communications Commission is a Statutory Board responsible for the regulation of telecommunications and broadcasting in the Isle of Man.The Commission was created by the Communications Commission Order 1989. Since 2001 the Minister for Home Affairs has been chairman of the Commission ex...
. That application was rejected.
According to the CIA World Factbook, as of 1999 there were 27,490 televisions in use in the Isle of Man.
Transmitters
- Kimmeragh (Bride)
- Beary (St Johns)
- Glen Maye
- Foxdale
- Port St. Mary
- Carnane (Douglas)
- Union Mills
- Laxey
Post
Isle of Man PostIsle of Man Post
The Isle of Man Post Office , which formerly used the trading name Isle of Man Post, operates postal collection, ancillary mail services, philatelic goods and delivery services and post office counter services on the Isle of Man.-History:...
issues its own stamps for use within the island and for sending post off-island. Only Manx stamps are valid for sending mail using the postal system. The Isle of Man adopted postcodes in 1993 using the prefix IM to fit in with the already established UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
postcode
UK postcodes
The postal codes used in the United Kingdom are known as postcodes. They are alphanumeric and were introduced by the Royal Mail over a 15-year period from 11th October 1959 to 1974...
system.
See also
- List of postal codes in the Isle of Man
- Communications CommissionCommunications CommissionThe Communications Commission is a Statutory Board responsible for the regulation of telecommunications and broadcasting in the Isle of Man.The Commission was created by the Communications Commission Order 1989. Since 2001 the Minister for Home Affairs has been chairman of the Commission ex...
- Manx TelecomManx TelecomManx Telecom is the primary provider of broadband and telecommunications on the Isle of Man. It was acquired by Telefónica in , but was sold to two private equity groups in 2010.- History :...
- Isle of Man PostIsle of Man PostThe Isle of Man Post Office , which formerly used the trading name Isle of Man Post, operates postal collection, ancillary mail services, philatelic goods and delivery services and post office counter services on the Isle of Man.-History:...