Initiated last Wednesday in Saint Martin, the Box Mediaserv should be available in St Barth by the end of the year, according to its operator, which has been a subsidiary of the Loret group since 1999. A competitor of Livebox, the Box Mediaserv proposed in Saint Martin offers a package including the removal of the standard telephone service contract, a high-speed connection to the Internet, remote downloads and unlimited telephony, depending on which plan is chosen. On November 29, 2004, the Regional Council of Guadeloupe awarded to Global Caribbean Network (GCN) a contract to build and operate a fiber-optic submarine cable system, linking Guadeloupe, St Martin and St Barth to the Internet backbone in Puerto Rico. Seventy-five percent of the funding comes from the European Regional Development Fund and the Guadeloupe Regional Council, with the remaining 25% coming from GCN main shareholder, the Loret Group.