A roundup of the latest ICT/technology news from across the Caribbean region for the period Monday 25 July to Sunday 31 July 2016.
Monday, 25 July 2016
BTC ‘carving out’ special business, government network
Bahamas – Chris Mayer, vice-president of customer experience, business and government at the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC), says the telco is “carving out” a network designed especially for business and government clients… more
CWC Bahamas $329M revenue in 2016
Bahamas – The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) earned $329 million in revenue for Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC) — just under 14 percent of CWC’s revenue for the year ending March 30, 2016. CWC owns 49 percent of BTC… more
Sir Franklyn Urges Cable To Meet The ‘Highest Standards’
Bahamas – Sir Franklyn Wilson has urged Cable Bahamas to “meet the highest standards of transparency and accountability” following the issuance of its new mobile licence… more
URCA on national roaming obligation for NewCo, BTC
Bahamas – The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) recently established its final determination and order for the introduction of a uni-directional national roaming obligation, which would allow NewCo Limited 2015 (NewCo) – the second cellular mobile provider – to use the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) equipment to provide cellular mobile services for up to 24 months… more
URCA Orders ‘Middle Ground’ On Newco’s BTC Roaming Period
Bahamas – Regulators have ordered a ‘middle ground’ compromise on how long NewCo2015 can use the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) network to deliver its own mobile services, stipulating a 24-month time period… more
How I Left A 12-Year Career In Silicon Valley To Work On A Beach In Belize
Belize – Three months ago, I worked in San Francisco as a marketing leader for a unicorn startup. I earned a salary that let me do, eat, and buy whatever I wanted… more
Cabinet to review OCG report on Caricel
Jamaica – CABINET is expected to view a report from the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) on the granting of telecommunications licences to Symbiote Investments Limited when it meets at Jamaica House today… more
Caricel hits back at OCG’s call for revocation of its telecom licences
Jamaica – Symbiote Investments says that the report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday by the Office of the Contractor General (OCG) has not raised any new material that should cause the Government to take away its telecommunication licences… more
Marketing Strategies Today: How to use predictive analytics with big data to profit
Regional – Data management is highly prioritized in many businesses. Predictive analytics has been a practice used by many businesses to help them determine the future… more
Three Charged In Florida With Participating In Caribbean Cell Phone Fraud Scheme
Regional – Criminal charges were unsealed on Friday against multiple defendants relating to their participation in a sophisticated global cell phone fraud scheme, involving the takeover or compromise of cell phone customers’ accounts and the “cloning” of their phones to make fraudulent international calls to Cuba, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic… more
Bitcoin Use Surges 33% a Month in Caribbean Amid Bank Flight
Regional – In a backdrop of rising exodus by banks in the Caribbean region, Bitt, the largest Bitcoin exchange by volume in the region witnessed a “33% increase in users each month since February.” … more
CABLE RATES RISE
Trinidad and Tobago – Days after an uproar from customers about a breakdown in their FLOW cable service comes word from the company that effective September 1, its customers will see a 6.3 per cent increase in their residential cable packages… more
Tuesday, 26 July 2016
Cable To ‘Devastate’ BTC Via Mobile Win
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas could “devastate” the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) if its mobile market share projections come true, even though the latter recorded a 26 per cent profit rise in its last financial year… more
URCA issues ruling on BTC/NewCo national roaming pact
Bahamas – Bahamian regulator the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has issued its final determination on whether cellular incumbent the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) should provide national roaming to new licensee NewCo during the latter’s rollout period… more
Jamaica could revoke Caricel mobile licence award
Jamaica – Jamaica’s contractor general Dirk Harrison has advised the minister of science, energy and technology Andrew Wheatley not to sign the domestic mobile licence granted to Symbiote Investments in May, reports the Jamaica Gleaner… more
Implanted mobile phones expected by 2023
Regional – Imagine answering your mobile device by tweaking your ear, blinking your right eye, raising your left hand or doing the ‘Scooby Doo’ dance… more
Flow to raise cable rates
Trinidad and Tobago – LOCAL cable and internet provider Flow yesterday announced of an increase in its Residential Cable TV packages, effective September 1… more
ICT investment as a driver of growth of SME businesses
Trinidad and Tobago – WITH Trinidad and Tobago still in recessionary mode, business owners, and their workers are understandably worried about the future. While some businesses decided to retrench workers to reduce expenses, this has the effect of also reducing production, which would erode revenues… more
Wednesday, 27 July 2016
Antigua-Barbuda To Revive Online Gaming Dispute Negotiations With US
Antigua and Barbuda – In a national broadcast on Monday night, the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, announced that negotiations will be recommenced as soon as possible with relevant US agencies in an attempt to resolve the dispute with the United States over online gaming… more
Cable Bahamas allowed to roam on BTC network for 2 years
Bahamas – The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority of the Bahamas has ordered the incumbent operator Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) to provide national roaming to the country’s new mobile operator until 2018, when it must complete its own network infrastructure… more
Cable Charges BTC Recovering ‘Seven Times’ Network Cost
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas has charged that its Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) rival recovers more than “seven times’” the costs it incurs on terminating fixed-line calls to its mobile subscribers at peak hours… more
URCA Warned Over ‘Maximum Damage’
Bahamas – The Utilities Regulation & Competition Authority (URCA) is threatening to “inflict maximum damage” on the now-liberalising mobile market via a major change to its regulatory approach on retail pricing… more
In the Mek Mi Rich case, BTL to pay cost of court of almost $59,000
Belize – In February, the Supreme Court found that Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) had pirated the concept of the SMS lottery texting game Mek Mi Rich from a proposal made to the company by Corozal businessman Curtis Swasey and the court awarded Swasey $25,000 in damages, but what was left was for the court to determine the cost of court that BTL must pay Swasey’s attorneys, Kareem Musa and Wayne Piper… more
Flow Jamaica Applies For Lte Spectrum For High Speed Internet
Jamaica – Cable & Wireless Jamaica, which trades as FLOW, invested $8.8 billion in its operations in year ending March 2016, with plans to add a higher-speed LTE mobile Internet to its arsenal… more
Quality Works finds sweet spot in software testing
Jamaica – QualityWorks Consulting Group LLC, a software test consultancy firm based in Los Angeles, which expanded operations to Kingston, Jamaica, in 2015 from its home base in Los Angeles, has added clients in the United States, UK, and Jamaica in one year since hitting the outsourcing market. Founder Stacy Kirk is of Jamaican parentage… more
Cuffie calls for lower internet rates
Trinidad and Tobago – Communications and Public Administration Minister Maxie Cuffie wants internet service providers to lower their rates… more
The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago on the increasing rates for subscription television.
Trinidad and Tobago – The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (the Authority) has noted recent media publications and commentaries with regard to increasing rates for subscription television (pay TV) by local providers and the corresponding concerns expressed by consumers on the proposed rate increases… more
TSTT posts $316m loss under new chairman
Trinidad and Tobago – MAJORITY State-owned telecoms provider TSTT has posted an after-tax loss of $316 million for its fiscal year ended March 31, 2016, chairman Emile Elias said in a two-page news advertisement yesterday… more
INNOVATIVE TELEPHONE RATES TO INCREASE ON AUGUST 1; COMPANY ANNOUNCES NEW CEO
United States Virgin Islands – Innovative, which is now owned by ATN International, the company that operates as Choice Communications in the territory, announced Tuesday that its telephone rates would increase come August 1… more
Thursday, 28 July 2016
BTC to Participate in 32nd Annual CANTO Conference
Bahamas – The Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited (BTC) will participate in the 32nd annual Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organizations’ (CANTO) Conference and Trade Show Exhibition… more
TECH POTENTIAL
Barbados – Barbados has the potential to become a leader in the development of apps and other technological devices, but there is still some way to go… more
BTL Compensation Award Update
Belize – The Government of Belize (GOB) informs that a dispute has arisen between the Government and the Ashcroft Alliance over the recent BTL compensation award handed down by the Permanent Court of Arbitration… more
CCJ hears currency dispute matter over arbitration award
Belize – The Ashcroft Alliance wants half of the outstanding arbitration settlement award for the nationalization of Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) in U.S. dollars, but the Government of Belize, which is also challenging some aspects of the award, says that even if they are ordered to so pay they cannot do so because “no money no deh” – greenbacks, we mean… more
Curtail Gruesome Crime-Scene Images On Social Media – Gordon Harrison
Jamaica – We saw them after three-year-old Nevalesia Campbell tragically lost her life in her St Ann community a few weeks ago. We saw them after the reported murder-suicide at the Tax Registration Number (TRN) office in downtown Kingston a few days later… more
Whatsapp Fraud? – Prosecutors Outline How Platform Was Allegedly Used In Multimillion-Dollar Crime
Jamaica – A prosecutor yesterday outlined how two officials at the Manchester Parish Council allegedly used Whatsapp, the Internet-based messaging platform, to orchestrate a fraudulent scheme that has defrauded the Government of $95 million and counting… more
CXC launches Green Engineering syllabus in Guyana
Regional – The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) on Thursday launched its Green Engineering Syllabus in Guyana… more
Tired of the brush-off, Caribbean women start $1 million loan fund
Regional – Valrie Grant had just landed one of her biggest government contracts when she walked into the Kingston, Jamaica, bank three years ago seeking a million-dollar loan so she could seal the deal… more
St Vincent PM called on to amend cybercrime bill
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – International press freedom organisation Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Wednesday called for the revision of several clauses in a cybercrime bill currently being debated in parliament in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) that it described as extremely damaging to the free flow of news and information and to public debate… more
Friday, 29 July 2016
A marriage worth reviewing
Barbados – Telecommunications are not a luxury in the 21st century reality… more
Ashcroft And GOB Back In Court
Belize – The Ashcroft Alliance is once again taking the government of Belize to court, this time to order them to pay 70 million dollars or half of the outstanding Arbitration settlement award, for the nationalization of BTL in US currency… more
B.T.L. Settlement Back in Court
Belize – Following incessant and expensive litigation over B.T.L. since 2009, the PM declared the half a billion plus final payment for the utility company a vindication and a victory for the government and people of Belize… more
G.O.B. and Ashcroft Group Back in Court Arguing B.T.L. Settlement
Belize – Attorneys for the Government of Belize and Dean Boyce, B.T.L. Employees Trust and Dunkeld International appeared before the Caribbean Court of Justice via teleconference this morning, for a case management hearing… more
American Chamber: All hands on deck to make a Dominican digital republic
Dominican Republic – American Chamber of Commerce vice president David Fernández on Friday said to achieve Dominican Republic’s digital transformation requires joint efforts with the government agencies to promote the construction of needed structures and develop public policies to digitize, by using Web-based innovative products and services… more
Guyana needs a Local Content Law
Guyana – Dear Editor, Oil has been found in Guyana and optimistically production will begin in 2020. This offers Guyana the incredible opportunity of leapfrogging beyond the annual incremental 3-5 % economic growth to annual growth rates in the double digit range… more
Cable and Wireless recognized as leader in 2016 Gartner Magic Quadrant
Regional – C&W Business, a division of Cable & Wireless Communications, (C&W), now part of Liberty Global (LiLAC Group), is pleased to announce that for the second year in a row, it has been recognized in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Disaster Recovery as a Service (DRaaS)… more
Making the most of Caribbean spectrum
Regional – Caribbean countries have found an interesting way to extract value from one invisible shared commodity… more
Saturday, 30 July 2016
Ashcroft alliance seeks enforcement of Settlement Agreement at the CCJ
Belize – After several years of litigation between the Government of Belize and a group of companies collectively referred to as the Ashcroft alliance, a Settlement Agreement was worked out last September in Miami between Lord Michael Ashcroft and Prime Minister Dean Barrow over the government payment for the nationalization of the Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL)… more
USF Provides $430 Million for ICT Infrastructure Development in Tertiary Institutions
Jamaica – The Universal Service Fund (USF) has provided nearly $430 million in information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure development support for several tertiary institutions over the past four years… more
Sunday, 31 July 2016
App Building Programme awaits Barbadian Cabinet Approval
Barbados – Soon Barbadians will get a chance to learn how to build apps for mobile phones through specialised Government programmes… more
The CONATEL threat illegal radios
Haiti – The Executive Body of the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL) found that radio stations continue to broadcast without authorization in the country in contravention of the provisions of the Decree of 12 October 1977, which grants a monopoly of telecommunications services to the State… more
CONSUMER CONCERNS…Telecoms liberalization; enforcement; GTT opens new front
Guyana – The recent passage of the Telecommunications Bill in Parliament and the concomitant liberalization of the Telecoms Industry is a very important news event… more
BATV launches On Point
Jamaica – Jamaica’s first business channel, Business Access Television (BATV), launched its current affairs discussion programme,.. more
Trial and error with Digicel Cable TV
Jamaica – Dear Claudienne, I live in Vineyard Town, Kingston 3. Up to mid-2015 I got cable TV service from Telstar… more
Prime Minister responds to RSF’s concerns about Cybercrime Bill
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines – Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves has responded to concerns by the international press freedom watchdog group, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) regarding certain elements of the Cybercrime Bill now before Parliament… more
Image credits: NS Newsflash (flickr); Wikimedia; Wikipedia; Caribbean Tracker; Wikipedia
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