A roundup of ICT/technology news from across the Caribbean region during the period Monday 29 July to Sunday 4 August 2013.
Monday, 29 July 2013
Development of Broadcasting Legislation in Anguilla
Anguilla – The Government of Anguilla developed a National Broadcasting Policy for Anguilla in May of this year. The document can be viewed on the Government’s website at www.gov.ai… more
Telecommuting from paradise
Anguilla – Nine years ago, Francie Tanner was working at a technology consulting company in Dallas when she received an email that began, “Dear Sir or Madam, I manage a bank in the country of Anguilla…” … more
BTC Owner ‘Anticipates’ Cellular Rival By End-2014
Bahamas – The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) majority owner is “not anticipating” any extension to its existing monopoly, and is preparing to go head-to-head with a rival cellular competitor before end-2014… more
BTC refutes union chief’s ‘preposterous’ claims
Bahamas – The Management of The Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd (BTC) is condemning in the strongest terms the recent comments by Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) leader, Bernard Evans, in respect to both alleged plans to lay off staff, and in the erroneous and reckless comments regarding management compensation… more
BTC union laments relations with CWC
Bahamas – If Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) retains ownership of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), its relationship with the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) would continue to deteriorate, BCPOU President Bernard Evans said… more
LIME repairing cable failure
Cayman Islands – LIME customers may have problems with internet and phone services following a failure early yesterday on their submarine cable system that runs north and south out of the Cayman Islands, the local telecommunications company said… more
Major Internet outage in Cayman
Cayman Islands – A major cable failure causes chaos for local communication providers. The country’s main line for Internet service has been without power since Sunday morning, leaving providers scrambling to keep service ongoing to avoid an island-wide blackout… more
Digicel Business Keeps Curaçao Surveillance Services (CSS) Connected
Curaçao – Digicel Business, Curaçao’ leading business solutions partner, announced that the Curaçao Surveillance Services (CSS) has joined its growing list of valued customers. CSS is a company that is specialized in security and GPS tracking island wide… more
Customers welcome ‘Pay the Right Price’ Digicel Campaign
Jamaica – Telecommunications leader, Digicel is taking the “Pay the Right Price” message into communities across the island, encouraging customers to avoid paying for over-priced phone cards… more
Literacy and numeracy boost for 31 schools
Jamaica – MORE than 40,000 students and teachers from schools in four education regions are to benefit from Digicel Foundation’s enrichment initiative, aimed at boosting literacy and numeracy at the primary level… more
UNLIMITED Value from LIME with Unlimited Talk & Text
St. Kitts & Nevis – Value for money is increasingly important for the people of St. Kitts and Nevis and LIME is determined to provide the best value offer in the local telecom market… more
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
BTC Negotiations Are Complete – Now PM Waits For An Answer
Bahamas – AFTER months of discussions focused on recapturing the majority stake in the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), Prime Minister Perry Christie confirmed yesterday that the negotiations are complete… more
LIME reports major cable failure
Cayman Islands – The submarine cable system that runs north and south out of the Cayman Islands sustained a failure early Sunday that has affected internet and international calling service to the country… more
AMANDA software to increase efficiency at local gov’t ministry
Jamaica – THE Ministry of Local Government and Community Development is deepening its efforts to improve the development approval process, through the implementation of the Application Management and Data Analysis (AMANDA) software… more
Onelink To Present Sweeping Lineup Changes On Aug. 19
Puerto Rico – OneLink Communications is three weeks away from introducing a significantly revamped television lineup, faster Internet speeds, and adjusted rates for its services offered in the San Juan metropolitan area, as outlined in an extensive notice mailed to its customer over the past few days… more
Digicel’s Summer Promotion Making Customers SMILE
St. Kitts & Nevis – What started out as an ordinary day at Vacation Bible School for Trevion Gaskin turned out to be an extraordinary summer as the Cayon High School student received a call that he had just won $1,000 cash from Digicel! … more
Wednesday, 31 July 2013
Cyber Attacks Threaten Antiguan Investigative News Site
Antigua & Barbuda – The International Press Institute (IPI) is deeply alarmed to hear that the editors of the Antiguan investigative news site Caribarena have left Antigua and Barbuda reportedly due to fear for their family’s safety… more
Cable Moves To Ensure ‘Yes’ To $100m Deals
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas has not been leaving tonight’s shareholder vote on whether to approve its $100 million Florida expansion to chance, Tribune Business can reveal, with senior management calling institutional investors to ensure their support… more
Gibson Would Not Support Any Job Cuts At BTC
Bahamas – ANY plans by The Bahamas Telecommunication Corporation (BTC) to downsize staff would not be supported by Labour Minister Shane Gibson… more
PM accused of ‘waffling’ on BTC
Bahamas – Free National Movement (FNM) Chairman Darron Cash yesterday accused Prime Minister Perry Christie of “waffling” and hiding information about the government’s negotiations with Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) to regain the majority shares in the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC)… more
Regulator Shoots Down ‘Anti-Competitive’ Btc, Cable Phone Switch Plan
Bahamas – Regulators yesterday shot down as “anti-competitive” a Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) proposal that customers be charged for switching to rival operators… more
URCA blocks ‘unfair’ NP proposals
Bahamas – Bahamian telecoms watchdog the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has blocked a proposal put forward by Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) that would require customers to cover the costs of porting their number to a rival provider as well as a suggestion from Cable Bahamas that the cost of implementing number portability (NP) be distributed based on the quantity of phone numbers allocated to each carrier… more
Caymans hit by Maya-1 submarine cable system failure
Cayman Islands – LIME, the Caribbean business of Cable & Wireless Communications, has received confirmation from local operator Logic that Logic customers are not experiencing any issues with voice or data traffic due to the Maya cable outage… more
LIME dives to fix cable
Cayman Islands – Engineers and scuba divers are working to find and fix an electrical fault on a key underwater communications cable that has caused Internet connection problems across the Cayman Islands… more
Other telecoms rebounded quickly
Cayman Islands – While LIME’s services were significantly affected by a fault sustained by the MAYA-1 submarine cable system Sunday morning, the Cayman Islands’ other telecommunications companies reported lesser degrees of impact… more
Local tech expert spurs controversy with Geewax, JGX comments
Jamaica – INGRID Riley, a prominent Jamaican technology entrepreneur and commentator, has sparked controversy with comments she made on new business incubator JGX Labs and its founder, Google engineer JJ Geewax… more
Thursday, 1 August 2013
Overwhelming approval for Cable Bahamas’ Florida Expansion
Bahamas – Today, Cable Bahamas shareholders overwhelmingly endorsed Cable Bahamas’ expansion plans in Florida… more
LIME restores communication
Cayman Islands – Telecommunications provider LIME was on Wednesday able to resolve the problem with its MAYA-1 cable system and restored it to operation after a successful reconfiguration of the power between the Hollywood Cable Station in the USA and Half Moon Bay Cable Station in Grand Cayman… more
Underwater telecom cable back up
Cayman Islands – The Cayman Islands’ primary communications link was restored early Wednesday following a failure Sunday that caused Internet connection problems across the islands… more
BLINK Entertainment serves up ESPN sport buffet
Trinidad & Tobago – ACCORDING to the World Sports Encyclopedia there are over 7,500 indigenous sports and sporting games worldwide. Just under 100 of these have been enough to keep a multitude of men and women around the world enthralled by the skill and creativity of the players… more
The future of print media is digital
Trinidad & Tobago – The revolution underway in media is more radical than we—the industry—appreciate. That the contest between legacy and insurgent players is mortal, with advantage to the insurgents. That surviving legacy properties will have had to learn the disciplines of the insurgents and that they can… more
TSTT hosts stakeholders at mobile tech display
Trinidad & Tobago – TSTT recently hosted communications professionals as well as members of various Chambers and Rotary Clubs at the TSTT Hospitality Suite, Queen’s Park Oval… more
Friday, 2 August 2013
Govt reviewing ‘two or three’ telecoms applications
Bahamas – The Bahamas Investment Authority (BIA) is currently reviewing at least “two or three” applications to provide telecommunications services in The Bahamas, ahead of next year’s liberalization of the mobile sector… more
NIB ‘Embarrassment’ On $100m Cable Deals
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas’ largest shareholder “abstained” from voting in favour of its $100 million worth of Florida acquisitions, after “foot dragging” by its government ‘owner’ meant several pre-conditions for the transactions’ approval could not be met… more
Privatization – Bahamas, Caribbean – C&WC to deploy LTE in Bahamas this year, seek additional spectrum
Bahamas – Cable & Wireless Communications (C&WC) expects its Bahamas incumbent BTC to be one of its first businesses in the Caribbean to launch LTE services later this year and is seeking to acquire additional spectrum to fuel its continued 4G deployments, the company said in an interim management statement… more
Belize to host sixth CaribNOG Regional Meeting
Belize – The Caribbean Network Operators Group, (CaribNOG) will stage its sixth regional meeting in Belize in September… more
Cripple Cyber Threat – Expert Urges Gov’t To Move Beyond Passing Legislation
Jamaica – An international cybercrimes expert here to help the country outsmart cybercriminals by way of preventative strikes is urging the Jamaican Government to launch a campaign to sensitise not just law-enforcement officials but the general public about Internet offences… more
Digicel Attacks Problem Of Overcharging – 2,000 Sales Points To Sport ‘Right Price’ Tags
Jamaica – An entire network of traders of mobile credit, formal and informal, has sprung up around the formal telecoms sector, fuelled by Jamaicans’ propensity for talk… more
eMedia announces Flow partnership
Jamaica – eMedia Interactive will soon start to supply television content from its online network to cable giant Flow, the firm has announced… more
Microsoft Partners with Gov’t to Enhance Technology in Schools
Jamaica – The technological competence of the nation’s teachers and students is expected to be significantly improved under the Microsoft Jamaica Inc. Partners in Learning Programme… more
Scotiabank Wins Multiple 2013 Internet Bank Awards From Global Finance Magazine
Regional – Global Finance magazine recognized Scotiabank as the 2013 Best Consumer Internet Bank in Canada and 21 countries, and Best Corporate and Institutional Internet Bank in 17 countries… more
Saturday, 3 August 2013
BTC Chief claims by BCPOU leader ‘ludicrous’
Bahamas – Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) CEO Geoff Houston has labeled as “preposterous” claims that BTC plans to lay off more than 100 employees and that executives are paid an average of $500,000 a year… more
Can BTC survive as a house divided?
Bahamas – The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is in a strange position. Next year its cellular monopoly is supposed to end and the stakeholders who make up the company are divided… more
Consumer protection in The Bahamas
Bahamas – Dear Editor, An educated consumer is our best customer. – Sy Syms… more
Digicel introduces $30 roaming rate
Guyana – Digicel today announced that the company has introduced a special roaming rate of $30 to its subscribers… more
Jamaicans Scammed – Cyber Crimes Expert Advises Caution When Accessing Internet In Public Spaces Abroad
Jamaica – JAMAICANS AND others in the region who travel to places like the United States are now falling prey to a new form of Internet scamming… more
LIME , Newgen settle billion-dollar lawsuit
Jamaica – TELECOM players LIME and Newgen Technologies settled a US$13 million ($1.3 billion) lawsuit, with both parties keeping the details private… more
Sunday, 4 August 2013
Hello…! They Are Bugging Phones … But Won’t Tell!
Jamaica – State agencies in Jamaica are listening to private phone calls but nobody will say who are the targets or how often calls are intercepted… more
Jamaica Entities Mum On How Many Phones Bugged
Jamaica – Efforts to get information from the Ministry of National Security and other government entities on the number of private phone calls being listened to by state agencies, such as the police and the army, have been unsuccessful, and the private telecommunications companies also will not tell… more
OUR Refines Website For Public Access
Jamaica – The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) has redesigned its website to make it more user-friendly and open to access to its documentation and other content… more
Image credits: Gary Thomson (flickr); Wikipedia; Bahamas Weekly; Wikipedia; Wikipedia
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