A roundup of ICT/technology news from across the Caribbean region during the period Monday 2 December to Sunday 8 December 2013.
Monday, 2 December 2013
CWC refreshed Bahamas brand
Bahamas – Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) has updated the brand of its Bahamas business, the latest stage of making the company more modern, effective and efficient… more
Florida acquisitions due to lockdown on domestic wireless sector, CBL says
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas Ltd (CBL) has confirmed that its recent expansion into the US cable market via the acquisition of four Florida-based providers, Marco Island Cable, NuVu, US Metro and Summit Broadband – the last of which was completed late last week – was prompted by the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC’s) monopoly on the wireless market, preventing it from expanding into the cellular segment… more
COO says mobile is the future of communications technology
Cayman Islands – As an increasing number of people carry mobile phones these days, one may be tempted to ask whether this spells the end of the landline… more
Jamaica looks to double BPO sector by 2016
Jamaica – In Jamaica, plans are currently underway to double the size of the country’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector by 2016 with a goal to make 1.2 million square feet of space available for outsourcing operations by that time… more
Tech Question Of The Week
Jamaica – Your parents and grandparents survived without certain technology, so do you think the need for technology is real or created? … more
Tech Times
Jamaica – Tech problem of the week. Bluetooth mouse/keyboard not connecting with computer… more
BrightPath and Columbus honour Caribbean tech innovators
Regional – Six Caribbean nationals were recognised for their contribution to advancing technology innovation in the region at the launch of the BrightPath Foundation TechLink initiative in Grenada… more
Digicel sees dip in revenue for July to September quarter
Regional – Movements in the value of the Jamaican dollar and currencies in two other markets have contributed to a decline in total group revenues at mobile phone company Digicel… more
Starting the Caribbean technology revolution
Regional – The Caribbean technology revolution has begun. BrightPath, in collaboration with its corporate partner Columbus Communications, has launched TechLink, an initiative offering Caribbean-wide community-based training in digital content creation… more
Strengthening the T&T Internet
Trinidad and Tobago – Trinidad and Tobago is one step closer to establishing its own Internet Exchange Point (IXP)… more
Tuesday, 3 December 2013
Cable TV subscribers compensated for outages with free weekend of premium services
Bahamas – Cable subscribers in Grand Bahama, Abaco and Eleuthera were affected last week with an interruption of a small portion of their TV services. Cable Bahamas advised that the issues were caused by equipment and service upgrades… more
URCA Certifies BTC Readiness For Number Portability
Bahamas – Confirming its readiness for number portability, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) granted the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) a certificate of readiness last week, ahead of the December 2 deadline for number portability… more
LIME: Make this Christmas magical
Cayman Islands – Christmas is coming and LIME is all about sharing the festive cheer. “This year is going to be special as we’re full of the joys of Christmas,” says Julie Hutton, head of marketing and sales support for LIME Cayman Islands… more
Telecoms sales revenues boost hopes to extend subway line
Dominican Republic – The hundreds of millions of dollars the Dominican government will raise from the sales of the telecoms Orange Dominicana and Tricom could boost Santo Domingo East commuter’s hopes to extend the Metro’s second subway line, scrubbed from next year’s budget on an income crunch… more
Wednesday, 4 December 2013
Cloud Computing Provider Aims For 2014 Q1 Take-Off
Bahamas – A BAHAMAS-based cloud computing firm is aiming to provide local businesses with a “test run” of its offering in the 2014 first quarter, after aligning itself with a major US multi-national computer technology corporation… more
Technology important to disabled
Cayman Islands – Education officials are stressing the importance of harnessing technology in the classroom, especially for students with disabilities… more
Tobago Information Technology Limited Awards Function
Trinidad and Tobago – The Tobago Information Technology Limited (TITL) held its ten year awards ceremony on Saturday evening (November 30,2013) at the Victor E Bruce Financial Complex… more
Thursday, 5 December 2013
BTC Targets 10-15k Xmas Phone Sales
Bahamas – THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is optimistic it will beat last year’s smartphone sales for the Christmas shopping period, the company projecting to sell 10,000-15,000 devices this period… more
PM ‘Close To Resolution’ On BTC Majority Stake Talks
Bahamas – PRIME Minister Perry Christie says he is close to a resolution in negotiations for the majority stake in the Bahamas Telecommunication’s Company Ltd… more
PM says BTC share take back bid still alive
Bahamas – Prime Minister Perry Christie said yesterday that negotiations between Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) and the government to regain majority shares in the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) are still ongoing… more
Logic donates IT equipment to UCCI
Cayman Islands – Logic CEO Mike Edenholm on Monday, 2 December presented UCCI President Roy Bodden with some specialised information technology (IT) equipment for use by lecturers in class presentations… more
Mobile Network Realizes 60 Percent Site Energy Cost Reductions Through Backup Power System from GE
Dominican Republic – Viva-Trilogy Dominicana S.A., a Dominican Republic mobile network, has announced the completion of a backup power pilot program using a GE (NYSE: GE) Durathon* battery and a remote monitoring and diagnostic (RMD) system from OmniMetrix, LLC, an Acorn Energy company (NASDAQ: ACFN)… more
Grenada union upset over worker dismissals
Grenada – The Technical and Allied Workers Union (TAWU) Wednesday accused the British telecommunication company, LIME, of violating the island’s employment legislation after it terminated the services of an unqualified number of workers under the guise that their posts were being made redundant… more
Digicel hires 200 more customer care agents
Jamaica – Telecommunications provider Digicel has hired and trained 200 additional agents for its customer care call centre in an effort to enhance the delivery of customer service… more
Caribbean Heads of Government to Make ICT a Priority
Regional – CARICOM Heads of Government will be making Information and Communication Technology a major focus at their next Intercessional meeting, which is slated to take place in February… more
Digicel Group is Honoured Twice at the World Communication Awards
Regional – Kingston, Jamaica: Digicel Group was honoured with two awards at the World Communication Awards held last night at the Lancaster Hotel in London, England… more
Better trade and business starts with e-
Trinidad and Tobago – WHEN TSTT’s Head of Purchasing and Supply Jim Leung Chee says that TSTT is good for local business, he isn’t just talking about the products and service the company offers… more
Inaccurate billing
Trinidad and Tobago – have the “Smart Choice-Gold” package from Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) for my residential line, which includes 50 minutes of calls to TSTT’s bmobile cellular phones and a similar 50 minutes on calls made to Digicel numbers… more
Friday, 6 December 2013
Faster mobile data services available
Cayman Islands – LIME is promising that buffering will become a thing of the past with its 4G LTE mobile data service in the Cayman Islands… more
Customers To Benefit From New LIME Store
Jamaica – Customers are expected to benefit tremendously from the new interactive and customer-friendly store that telecommunications giant LIME unveiled last Tuesday night… more
CTU signs MOU for unrestricted access to the internet for persons in the region
Regional – The Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) which met this week in Montego Bay, St. James has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for unrestricted access to the internet for persons in the region… more
Next CARICOM intersessional meeting to focus on ICT
Regional – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) heads of government have decided that information and communications technology (ICT) will be one of the major topics to be discussed at the upcoming intersessional meeting in February… more
Saturday, 7 December 2013
Altice Group secures financing for Dominican acquisitions
Dominican Republic – Luxembourg-based private equity fund Altice Group announced that it has implemented bond-heavy financing worth US$1.685 billion to back its parallel acquisitions of Orange Dominicana and an 88% stake in local telecoms provider Tricom… more
More than 50 percent of Dominican telecom users complain wrongly
Dominican Republic – The Dominican Telecommunications Institute (Indotel) conducted a study which revealed that over 50 percent of the 77,000 complaints submitted by users of telecommunications services by October of this year to the User Service Center (CAU) were channeled incorrectly… more
Sunday, 8 December 2013
Huawei Ascend P6 Makes Bahamas Debut
Bahamas – A seductive new entrant to the Bahamas’ cell phone market was introduced by The Bahamas telecommunications Company (BTC) on December 6th at a launch event at the BTC South West Plaza flagship store… more
T&T gets US$18m to expand IT services
Trinidad and Tobago – T&T will receive a US$18 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to help expand its ability to offer global information technology-enabled services… more
Image credits: johnthurman/flickr; Wikipedia; Brands of the World;
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