A roundup of the ICT/technology news from across the Caribbean region during the period Monday 2 July to Sunday 8 July 2012.
Monday, 2 July 2012
Digital Jam winners
Jamaica – Northern Caribbean University students Joel Dean (left) and teammate Nicholas Brown (second right) are all smiles as they accept their prizes for winning the Digital Jam 2.0 Mobile Apps Competition with their innovative and crowd pleasing Pothole Positioning System Jamaica (PPS) mobile application… more
Tuesday, 3 July 2012
Orange Dominicana launches the country’s first LTE 4G network
Dominican Republic – Orange Dominicana vice president for marketing Jerome Poulain yesterday announced the launch of Dominican Republic’s first LTE 4G network, the latest generation in mobile technology… more
COM Meets with UTS and TELEM reps
Sint Maarten – The Council of Ministers held two meetings last week Thursday with two telecommunication groups… more
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Laing: PLP a danger to telco sector liberalization
Bahamas – The government’s proposed renationalization of the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) could jeopardize the planned liberalization of the sector, according to Senator Zhivargo Laing… more
Dominicans fall prey to internet scam
Dominica – Dominicans are among individuals said to have fallen prey to a scam being run on the Internet… more
Make money freelancing online
Jamaica – Jamaicans can earn thousands of US dollars online through websites offering short or long-term projects to skilled workers, who can openly bid on the jobs… more
OUR insists it has right to set market rates
Jamaica – Lawyers for the Office of Utilities Regulation, OUR, wrapped up their submissions on Wednesday, defending the OUR’s power to regulate and set mobile phone termination rates… more
Valentini sees ICT as critical sector
Jamaica – World Bank representative Gorgio Valentini argues that it is critical to promote ICT in Jamaica is critical as an economic sector and driver of skills creation… more
Will Digital Jam 2.0 help JA become region’s Silicon Island?
Jamaica – Last week, the World Bank brought Silicon Valley entrepreneurs together with young Jamaican techie’s in what was called Digital Jam 2.0, honouring an earlier effort in 1994 led by Jamaican Hugo Daley… more
CARICOM Heads to Broadcast Live via LIME
Saint Lucia – The people of the Caribbean were able to watch and listen to the Opening Ceremony of the Conference of Heads of Government of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) live over the internet this week. Online streaming was provided by Saint Lucia’s and the Caribbean’s leading telecommunications service provider, LIME… more
Thursday, 5 July 2012
Cable Bahamas’ video on demand service a hit
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas’ video on demand service is a hit with its subscribers, with a company executive saying over 100,000 transactions have occurred since its launch in late May… more
Digicel expands service in Region Seven
Guyana – Digicel, one of Guyana’s leading mobile communications providers in Guyana, continues to deliver on its promise to provide state-of-the-art communication services to unserved communities… more
Friday, 6 July 2012
LIME ups its game
Antigua & Barbuda – With monopoly out the window, the two main players in the telecommunications market here have seemingly embarked on a price war that can only have one winner, the consumer… more
BTC Invests $8m In Retail Roll-Out
Bahamas – The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) expects to have invested around $8 million when it completes it retail roll-out of around 35 stores… more
Cable Concerns Over BTC ‘Tariff Imbalance’
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas has warned that failing to rebalance the Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) fixed-line voice tariffs prior to creating a Universal Service Fund (USF) could result in its newly-privatised rival receiving more compensation than is warranted… more
Cable Fears ‘Enormous Costs’ From URCA Plan
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas has warned that mandating it expand its Internet and TV infrastructure to all Bahamian islands would impose “enormous costs” on the company, “severely burdening” the entire communications industry and, by extension, the whole national economy… more
Digicel abandons pricing plan in BVI
British Virgin Islands – Digicel has ceased offering one of its pricing plans in the British Virgin Islands weeks after the territory’s telecommunications regulator fined the company and its rival LIME, accusing them of anti-competitive behaviour… more
Digicel rate ruling next week
Jamaica – Digicel is to know next week Thursday if the Supreme Court will grant its application for an injunction barring the Utilities Regulation (OUR) from carrying out its plan to reduce interconnection rates by July 15… more
Supreme Court reserves judgment in Digicel case
Jamaica – The Supreme Court is to rule on July 12 whether it will give mobile provider Digicel the greenlight to challenge the powers of the Office of Utilities Regulation, OUR, to set rates in the mobile market… more
US seeks fibre-optic cable for Guantanamo Bay
Jamaica – The US military hopes to install a $40 million underwater fiber-optic cable that could improve communications at Guantanamo Bay, a military official said yesterday… more
Saturday, 7 July 2012
Tricom calls on Chinese Huawei for LTE upgrade
Dominican Republic – Dominican Republic-based mobile network operator Tricom revealed that it has selected Chinese vendor Huawei for a network upgrade project that will include the deployment of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology… more
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Freelancer.Com Launches Jamaican Website
Jamaica – Freelancer.com has launched a local version of its website in Jamaica for small businesses with an interest in getting projects completed cheaply and freelancers who want to sell their skills and secure work online… more
Mobileworks Projects Sourced From Government
Jamaica – Anand Kulkarni, the CEO MobileWorks, which signed off on a deal with the Jamaican Government to introduce its work outsourcing programme here, says work contracts and the company’s revenue source have so far come through national governments… more
Pothole app a big hit at Digital Jam
Jamaica – Pothole Positioning System (PPS) Jamaica, the grand prize winning innovation of the Digital Jam 2.0 Mobile App competition is aimed at reducing the number of road fatalities in Jamaica caused by potholes… more
Image credit: NS Newsflash, flickr.
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