Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society

Tag: tatt

  • T&TEC plans to deploy broadband over power lines

    More details about the Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) planning to become a broadband internet provider in an article in Thursday January 3rd, 2008 Newsday newspaper :

    …Carol Balkaran, Tariff Analyst at the Regulated Industries Commission (RIC) said TTEC plans to deploy the service utilising a Broadband over Power Line (BPL) Technology Platform which also has regulatory implications for RIC [Regulated Industries Commission] and TATT [Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago].

    “BPL is a technology that offers exciting possibilities for TTEC. It can provide a host of internal benefits that can improve the performance of the service provider. If the service is to be offered commercially then it can possibly enhance the competitiveness of the broadband market in Trinidad and Tobago, “ Balkaran said.

    BPL, also called Power Line Communications or PLC combines the technological principles of radio, wireless networking, and modems to send data over power lines at speeds equivalent to those of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) and cable.

    The Federal Communica-tions Commission (FCC) of the US defines two types of BPL. Access BPL deliver high speed Internet and other broadband services over utilities medium voltage (1000-40000 volts) power lines to homes and businesses and In-house BPL which facilitates the implementation of home networks.

    In terms of regulatory implications, Balkaran identified three issues that are likely to be of major concern in Trinidad and Tobago. These were technical, cost and revenue allocation as well as cross subsidy issues and Pole Attachment and Open Access, including safety issues.”

    Read the rest of the Newsday article : “Spotlights broadband internet service”. Also see the Wikipedia article on BPL.

  • TATT auction of radio spectrum for Broadband Wireless Access services

    The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) recently conducted an auction on October 5th, 2007 for radio frequency spectrum in the 700 MHz, 12 GHz and 28 GHz frequency bands for the delivery of Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) services.

    Out of five companies which were pre-qualified to participate in the auction, three companies took part :

    The other two companies which qualified but didn’t take part were Sigma Communications Limited and Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited. The auction was held at the Hotel Normandie with PricewaterhouseCoopers as the auction manager.

    The results of the auction were as follows (quoting from the October 5th, 2007 TATT press release (PDF ; 35K)) :

    • “In the auction of spectrum blocks in the 12 GHz band, there was one (1) Winning Bidder. The Winning Bidder is Telstar Cable System Limited, who won all twelve (12) blocks in this band at TT$ 650,000.00 per block per annum. The annual licence fee for Telstar Cable System Limited will therefore be TT$ 7.8 million per annum in total, for spectrum awarded in 12 GHz band.
    • In the auction of spectrum blocks in the Lower 700 MHz band, there was one (1) Winning Bidder. The Winning Bidder is Green Dot Limited, who won three (3) blocks in this band at TT$ 177,000.00 per block per annum. The annual licence fee for Green Dot Limited will therefore be TT$ 531,000.00 per annum in total, for spectrum awarded in Lower 700 MHz band,
    • In the auction of spectrum blocks in the 28 GHz band, there was no Winning Bidder and, as a result, no award of spectrum blocks.”

    Green Dot and Telstar Cable System Ltd are eligible for the spectrum license for a period of 10 years.

  • TATT publishes 2006 Annual Market Report on Telecommunications and Broadcasting Sectors.

    The Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) has published a market report on the telecommunications and broadcasting sectors in Trinidad and Tobago for 2006.

    Some of the interesting stats :Re: mobile market :

    • “As at December 2006, the estimated number of mobile subscribers totaled 1,654,921. This represents an extra-ordinary increase of 730,862 or 79.1 per cent over the previous year. Of this total, 1,494,986 were prepaid customers while other 159,935 were postpaid.”
    • Mobile revenues for 2006 totaled TT$1.64 billion, of which prepaid customers accounted for TT$1.45 billion while postpaid customers contributed TT$191 million.

    Re: fixed line phone services –

    •  For  the  year  ending  December  31,  2006,  the  total  gross  revenues  earned  from  fixed  line subscribers amounted to TT$780 million. Of this amount, residential customers accounted for TT$405.7 million. Revenues from business customers on the other hand, accounted for TT$ 374.3 million.
    • There were 325,549 subscribers of fixed line telephone service at the end of 2006.

    Re: Public International telecom services,

    • the total outgoing traffic from Trinidad and Tobago, for 2006, was estimated to be 183.4 million minutes while incoming traffic was approximately 480.9 million minutes.
    • Gross revenue for international traffic for the year ending December 2006, was estimated at TT$145.1 million for outgoing calls and TT$196.7 million for incoming calls.

    Re: Internet Market :

    • “As at December 2006, there were eleven major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Trinidad and Tobago: TSTT, CableNett Limited, Carib-Link Limited, Cari Direc, Caribbean Interactive Limited, Illuminat Limited, InterServ Limited, Lisa Communications Limited, Opus Network Limited, WOW Net (2001) Limited and Green Dot Limited.” Hmmm…….Opus Networx stopped dial up access since Jan 2006 and there is no mention of Columbus Communications formerly CCTT or Caribtel.
    • As at December 2006, the total estimated number of Internet subscribers in Trinidad and Tobago is 81,064.
    • The demand for high speed access to Internet services has increased in Trinidad and Tobago in 2006 to 20,613 with 14,246 residential connections and 6,367 business connections.
    • the number of Internet users in Trinidad and Tobago stood at 15.4 per 100 inhabitants for 2006.

    Lots of interesting information, check it out…….
    Download : TATT Annual Market Report 2006 (PDF ; 236K)

  • TSTT defers implementation of Single National Rate

    TSTT’s website has this short press release regarding the Single National Rate (SNR) :

    TSTT defers implementation of the Single National Rate

    Trinidad – TSTT today announced its intention to defer implementation of its proposed Single National Rate plan. The current rate structure will remain in place until further notice.

    TSTT has pledged to continue its commitment to implement pricing plans based on customer preferences which deliver exceptional value to its customers.

    Wonder if this is a rethink by TSTT to implement SNR at all, or was this this due to TATT’s objections (not in principle about SNR but how TSTT went about doing it). Or maybe enough customers (including government) complained once they did the math and realised that the cost of business would increase with the proposed SNR.

    See  related blog posts :

  • T&TEC seeks to be a broadband Internet provider

    The Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission (T&TEC) will be applying for a concession from the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT) to provide broadband internet services with its own fibre optic network. This announcement was made by T&TEC’s CEO at the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Conference at the Trinidad Hilton on August 13, 2007 according to an article in today’s (August 14th, 2007) Newsday.