A roundup of ICT/technology news from across the Caribbean region during the period Monday 18 March to Sunday 24 March 2013.

Monday, 18 March 2012

Communications Sector ‘Outpaces’ Regulations

Bahamas – The Bahamas’ communications sector has “outpaced” its current regulatory framework, a senior Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) executive arguing that some rules under the current regime were “too prohibitive” and “not facilitating growth”… more

Barbados can become ‘a tech hub’

Barbados – A Barbadian software developer believes Government should pay more attention to mobile application development which is emerging as one of the strongest growth areas in information and communications technology (ICT) globally… more

GT&T fixing Top-up, other glitches linked to upgrade

Guyana – The Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company  (GT&T) on Monday urged pre-paid customers to use phone cards rather than top-ups as technical experts try to resolve a number of problems associated with the installation of a new billing and customer management system… more

Computer Hackers Warned

Jamaica – The Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ) is reminding Jamaicans that the hacking of data from a computer or telephone is against the law and persons caught engaged in such illegal activity could be charged under the Cyber Crime Act 2010… more

Interactive math learning tool wins PitchIT Caribbean grand prize

Regional – Trinidad and Tobago’s Rick Cooper claimed the PitchIT Caribbean grand prize today with Interact XL, an online math tutoring platform. The infoDev-run pitching contest sought to make the region’s mobile and web startups more attractive to investors through hands-on pitch coaching… more

Budding UTT innovators win $30,000

Trinidad & Tobago – UTT’s Valsayn Campus buzzed from two days of exciting competition which culminated with an awards ceremony for UTT’s IDEAS competition on March 6. Dr Fazal Ali, acting president and provost of UTT, was on hand to congratulate the 22 finalists selected to pitch their ideas from among 289 entries in eight categories… more

Digicel to offer LTE to 75% of Turks and Caicos population in 18 months

Turks & Caicos Islands – Caribbean mobile telco Digicel plans to cover 75% of the population with its LTE offering in Turks and Caicos (TCI) in 18 months and 98% of the population within 30 months, Digicel Turks and Caicos CEO, E Jay Saunders, told BNamericas… more

Tuesday, 19 March 2013

Cable Bahamas to commence major fibre rerouting in western New Providence

Bahamas – Cable Bahamas will be carrying out emergency fibre optic rerouting exercises in various communities in western New Providence commencing Wednesday, March 20 and ending Tuesday, March 26, due to the ongoing Airport Gateway road project… more

Digicel Limited Announces Pricing Of Private Placement Of Senior Notes

Jamaica – Digicel Limited (“Digicel”) today announced that it has priced its private placement of 6.00% US$300 million of senior notes due 2021. Digicel previously issued US$1 billion of its 6.00% senior notes due 2021 earlier this year… more

Wednesday, 20 March 2013

Cable Blasts Contractors On Fibre Optic Re-Routing

Bahamas – Cable Bahamas yesterday announced it will start emergency re-routing of its western New Providence fibre optic cable systems, starting today and ending next Tuesday, due to the ongoing Airport Gateway road project… more

Cable Customers To Be Affected By Re-Routing

Bahamas – Cable Bahamas will be carrying out emergency fibre optic re-routing exercises in various communities in western New Providence beginning today… more

Cable Re-Routing Will Affect Service

Bahamas – Cable Bahamas is carrying out emergency fibre optic re-routing exercises in several areas in western New Providence beginning March 20 and scheduled to end Tuesday, March 26… more

Bahamas flag (Wikipedia)First e-Government Forum This Thursday

Bahamas – Cabinet ministers and high-ranking representatives from Customs, Labour, Finance and other government departments and agencies will be on hand when the Ministry of Finance hosts its first ever E-Government and Business Forum this Thursday, March 21 from 9 a.m. – 12 noon at the Sheraton Nassau Beach Resort Independence Ballroom A… more

Broadcasting Authority had nothing to do with recent licences

Guyana – On September 27, 2011, former President Bharrat Jagdeo signed the Broadcasting Act 2011 into law paving the way for the Broadcasting Authority to start the process for the issuance of new television and radio licences… more

Broadcasting Authority processing more radio licence applications

Guyana – The Guyana National Broadcasting Authority (GNBA) has started processing applications for more radio licences with about 50 submissions to be dealt with, including new ones… more

First Caribbean Bank Records Hacked

Jamaica – Client records of CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank have been accessed by outsiders, but the bank says the breach should not be described as a hack… more

PM Hails Digicel Investment Downtown

Jamaica – Prime Minister, the Most Hon. Portia Simpson Miller, has congratulated telecommunications company Digicel, for its bold investment in downtown Kingston and the role it continues to play as a full service Information and Communication Technology (ICT) provider in Jamaica… more

Telecoms operators should abolish regional roaming charges says Philip Paulwell

Jamaica – Minister of Science Technology, Energy and Mining the Hon. Philip Paulwell this week called on regional mobile telecoms operators Digicel and LIME to abolish roaming charges for inter-Caribbean calls on their networks… more

GeekUp Saint Kitts: From Student to Software Engineer, in Eight Weeks

St. Kitts & Nevis – ThaDailyGeek is to shed light on pockets of excellence in the Caribbean. My colleague Fitzroy Edinborough is a lecturer at the CFB College in St Kitts, and CEO of Muscovado… more

TelEm Group carrying out emergency line repairs in Pelican area on Wednesday and Friday.

St. Maarten – TelEm Group technicians will be carrying out major repair work to a main telecommunication cable in the Pelican area Wednesday morning and as a result telecommunication services to residential and business properties will be affected… more

Thursday, 21 March 2013

Cable instead of radio/TV…Brian Yong admits he got more than he bargain for

Guyana – Brian Yong, one of the persons favoured by former President Bharrat Jagdeo to receive a cable licence to operate his digital TV and satellite communications business, has now admitted that he got more than he asked for… more

Court blocks Jagdeo radio licencee Telecor from setting up

Guyana – Chief Justice (ag) Ian Chang has issued an order blocking one of the controversial new radio licencees, Telecor and Cultural Broadcasting, from setting up its broadcasting tower and offices… more

Digicel & Avaya … Enhancing Corporate Jamaica, Cutting Operational Costs

Jamaica – The two-year partnership between Digicel and Avaya has reaped benefits. Most recently, for example, Enterprise Account Manager Duwayne Watson was awarded the prestigious award of Avaya’s Top Sales Executive for the Caribbean and Central America… more

Digicel Officially Opens Regional Headquarters in Downtown Kingston

Jamaica – In what could prove to be a significant lift for Jamaica’s capital, Digicel has officially opened its new regional headquarters in downtown Kingston… more

Managing the risks of social media

Trinidad & Tobago – There is no denying social media’s impact on human as well as business communications… more

Raphune Hill conduit placed for fiber-optic cable

US Virgin Islands – The V.I. Next Generation Network is continuing its trenching work across the territory, installing underground conduit that will house fiber-optic cable… more

Friday, 22 March 2013

Cable Bahamas switches phone service

Bahamas – Cable Bahamas Ltd is gearing up for a major change in the way that it communicates with its customers via telephone… more

Parents Cautioned To Pay Closer Attention To Children’s Online Visits

Bahamas – Minister of Social Services and Community Development, the Hon. Melanie S. Griffin, Thursday urged parents to pay closer attention to the sites their children are visiting online, adding that more and more unscrupulous persons are using those sites to advance and promote child abuse… more

http://www.thebahamasweekly.com/publish/local/URCA_Public_Consultation_on_Universal_Service21909.shtmlURCA issues final determination and order – BTC June network outages

Bahamas – On March 7, 2013, the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) issued a Final Determination and Order to the Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited (BTC) regarding the operator’s network outage on June 18, 2012… more

URCA ruling as BTC data falters

Bahamas – The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) yesterday experienced an hours-long outage of its data service on the same day the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) reaffirmed its preliminary finding that BTC breached its license last year by failing to take steps to maintain the proper and effective functioning of its telephone networks… more

Digicel Jamaica launches roaming plans

Jamaica – Digicel Jamaica has launched a roaming tariff plan family dubbed ‘Same Rates a Yaad…Same Rates Abroad’… more

Gov’t to Roll Out Islandwide Broadband Network

Jamaica – Government is in the process of rolling out an islandwide broadband network to provide universal access to digital technology for all Jamaicans… more

LIME Leads At Avaya Evolutions 2013 – Customers Validate Telco’s Platinum Status And Service

Jamaica – Telecommunications company LIME was reaffirmed in its leading position for cutting-edge business telephony systems at the annual Avaya Evolutions Expo hosted on March 13 at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel… more

Men acquitted of extortion, conspiracy

Jamaica – The four men charged with extorting money from telecoms giant Digicel Jamaica were on Wednesday acquitted in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court… more

Money in cyberspace

Jamaica – As recently as five to 10 years ago, with the advent of point-of-sale card machines, consumers were constantly warned about leaving their card unattended, since with the card number and security code anyone could access the person’s money and confidential information, possibly resulting in identity theft and critical damage to credit, reputation and livelihood… more

Web-Based Information Systems Launched

Jamaica – The Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining has launched two web-based information systems geared at providing energy stakeholders with real time data… more

Samsung to open 41 stores in the Caribbean

Regional – As Samsung seeks to establish itself as the dominant technology provider in the world, the Korean company is moving to seal its presence in the Caribbean… more

The EEICTP ‘I Can’ Technology Campaign Takes Off

St. Lucia – Saint Lucians from all walks of life are being urged to embrace the power of ICT through the ‘I Can’ Technology, the official campaign slogan for the 4.3 million Euro Education Enhancement through Information and Communication Technology Programme (EEICTP)… more

Saturday, 23 March 2013

Civil society joins private media to protest radio/cable licence giveaway

Guyana – With intensified vibrancy, staffers of the National Media and Publishing Company backed by concerned supporters and members of civil society yesterday continued protest action to amplify disgust about the recent unbiased granting of radio licences by former President Bharrat Jagdeo… more

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GuyanaMedia refuse to accept biased distribution of radio licences

Guyana – Revelations that former President Bharrat Jagdeo farmed out radio and television licences to his friends and others close to the government just before the last elections have sparked widespread concerns and a statement of defiance from privately-owned media houses… more

Radio/Cable licences scandal…Barefaced theft of limited national resources

Guyana – On September 27, 2011, former President Bharrat Jagdeo signed the Broadcasting Act 2011 into law paving the way for the Broadcasting Authority to start the process for the issuance of new television and radio licences… more

Radio licence giveaway…Ramotar claims that Jagdeo was fulfilling commitment

Guyana – President Donald Ramotar yesterday defended the granting of broadcast licences by his predecessor, Bharrat Jagdeo… more

Online scam alert issued

Jamaica – The Organised Crime Investigative Division (OCID) has issued a warning about an online scam using the website www.shopinja.com… more

Scammers Unfazed

Jamaica – Western Bureau:While the Jamaican Government is trying to stem the lottery scam, it appears that local scammers, who are being threatened with extradition, remain unfazed… more

Sunday, 24 March 2013

Frances Correia at the helm of Microsoft T&T- Technology kept calling me

Trinidad & Tobago – It was definitely not a case of love at first sight for Frances Correia and computer technology… more

 

Image credits:  Gary Thomson (Flickr);  Wikipedia;  The Bahamas Weekly;  Wikipedia

_____________