Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society

Tag: telecom

  • New November 2007 pricing for Flow Trinidad broadband

    In Tuesday’s 30th October 2007 Guardian newspaper (Update : Nov 4th, 2007 : corrected URL), Flow Trinidad has announce new pricing for Flow Trinidad’s broadband pricing to mark the completion of its ARCOS fiber optic cable from Trinidad to Curacao.

    According to the Trinidad Guardian article :

    • A 20 hour limited package with speed at 2mbps for $69.99 TT
    • U click unlimited one package with speed up to 2 mbps for $189.99 TT
    • U click unlimited two package with speed up to 6 mbps for $349.99 TT
    • U click unlimited three package with speed up to 15 mbps for $689.99 TT

    Over the next 60 days, persons can try Flow’s broadband packages risk free with a 30-day money back guarantee and enjoy free installation and a modem during the promotional period.

    Flow’s website has not been updated with the new pricing. (Update : 4th Nov 2007 – Flow’s website updated! – see the TTCS wiki page : http://ttcsweb.pbwiki.com/Cable_modems_in_Trinidad )

  • ICANN Los Angeles 2007 meeting from October 27th-November 2nd, 2007 – how you can participate

    The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 30th meeting is being held at Los Angeles. As always, a variety of Internet related matters will be discussed. The main meeting page is at http://losangeles2007.icann.org/ where you can view the meeting events sorted either by committees/organisations (GNSO, At-Large, NCUC, etc…..), subject topic (ccTLD, IPv6, IDN, gTLDs, etc) or by type (working groups, public forums, webcasts) and of course by day.

    Several meetings are webcast, meaning you can view/listen to the meeting live. You will need to install the Real Player to listen to the audio stream or the video stream.

    Note that for Trinidad and Tobago, there is a three hour difference between the stated times. So for example the ccNSO meeting on Tuesday 30th October, 2007 from 9am to 5pm is from 12noon to 8pm in Trinidad. Often the presentations and relevant documents are available for download in PDF format so you can follow the presentation while listening to the audio.

    The installation of the Real Player on Windows was uneventful and I noticed no problems. I listened to the Monday 29th October 2007 GNSO Workshop on New gTLDs meeting and it went well on my 256kbits/s ADSL connection.

    Many meetings, including those that are webcast also has a web based chat feature which allows you to ask questions and well, chat during the meeting with other attendees who are logged in as well as with other remote participants. You can ask someone via the web chat to actually ask a question to the panel discussion.

    Many of the meetings, especially the public and webcast ones are transcribed and meeting transcripts are made available soon after the meetings. So check out the ICANN Los Angeles Meeting page.

  • 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.

  • TTCS meeting on Thursday 18th October 2007 from 6pm at TSTT’s office in Port of Spain

    The Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society (TTCS) will be having a meeting on Thursday 18th October 2007 from 6-8pm at TSTT’s offices at 116 Edward Street, Port of Spain.

    At this meeting, we will be meeting with Mr. Joseph P. Herde, the Head of Broadband Marketing and Sales at TSTT, to discuss TSTT’s new broadband ADSL2+ service called “Blink Broadband”.

    Space is limited for this meeting. Persons interested in attending this meeting are asked to “register” for it by sending an email to admin at ttcsweb d.o.t org with the subject line “want to attend meeting with TSTT” and your full name and a telephone number

    Do you have questions you would like to ask TSTT about Blink Broadband?
    You can login to the TTCS wiki and add your question(s) to this page: http://ttcsweb.pbwiki.com/questions-for-blink-broadband

    Suitable questions will be collected and used at the meeting on the 18th October 2007.

  • 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 Blink Broadband ADSL2+ pricing

    (Edit 26 May 2009 – TSTT  doubles speed of residential packages  April 1st, 2009)

    (Edit: 4th October 2007 – TSTT site is now live ; confirmed pricing includes VAT pricing)

    (Edit : 3rd October 2007 – added more details about upload speeds via TTCS discuss mailing post )

    More details about TSTT’s new broadband ADSL2+ called Blink Broadband which will be launched this week. TSTT’s new website to market this is at http://www.blinkbroadband.tt/ . See Flow’s residential and business broadband packages for comparison. Broadband competition is good for consumers. 🙂

    TSTT’s Blink Broadband Packages Residential (pricing as of May 2009) :

    All prices in TT dollars per month. VAT is included.

    • Blink Basic : 256kbits download / 64kbits upload
      • $79
    • Blink Basic Plus : 1MB download / 256kbits upload
      • $149
    • Blink Premium : 2MB download / 512kbits upload
      • $229
    • Blink Premium Plus : 4MB download / 768kbits upload
      • $349
    • Blink Super : up to 10MB download /768kbits upload
      • $699

    TSTT’s Blink Broadband Packages for Businesses :

    All prices in TT dollars per month. VAT is included.

    • 512kbits download / 128kbits upload
      • $799
    • 1MB download / 256kbits upload
      • $1,249
    • 1MB download (sync) / [presume this means 1MB upload]
      • $1,799
    • 2MB download / 768kbits upload
      • $2,399
    • 3MB download / 768kbits upload
      • $2,949
    • 4MB download / 768kbits upload
      • $5,249

    So far, TSTT’s Blink broadband packages would be available in the following areas :

    • San Juan
      • El Socorro Rd, El Socorro Ext Rd, Boundary Road, Don Miguel Rd, Eastern Main Road, Aranguez Main Road, Saddle Rd, First Ave to Tenth Ave, Barataria, First Street to Twelfth Street, Barataria, William St, Mt. Hope Road, Lady Young Rd, 2nd Caledonia
    • Diego Martin
      • Diego Martin Main Rd, La Puerta, Victoria Gardens, Westmoorings, Glencoe, Petit Valley, Goodwood Park, Diamond Vale, St. Lucien Rd, Morne Coco Rd, Industrial Estate, Richplain, La Estancia
    • West
      • Federation Park, Ellerslie Park Champs Elysees, Long Circular, Dibe, Cocorite, The Greens, Hillsboro, St James, Newtown, St. Clair, Boissierre Village, Queen’s Park West, Poui Hill, Lady Chancellor, Woodbrook – North, Ariapita Ave – North, Saddle Rd, La Seiva

  • TSTT to announce $79 TT per month for unlimited ADSL?

    According to the October 1st, 2007 press release, TSTT has announced it is completing its broadband infrastructure upgrade and plans to introduce unlimited ADSL as low as $79 TT per month. Wow. Wonder what is going to happen to regular dial up pricing? Surely, it can’t stay at $300 TT for TSTT unlimited dialup.

    Edit (11pm) :  TSTT is to market the new broadband launch as Blink Broadband with speeds up to 10MBits. And the $79 TT amount is a initial promotional offer.

    Text of TSTT October 1st, 2007 press release :

    On October 1st, TSTT entered the final phase of its multi-million dollar broadband infrastructure upgrade that will see the company ramp up its customer broadband capacity to over 100,000 ports within a 4-month period. The project will ultimately deliver broadband access speeds of up to 10Mbps and reach every Exchange in Trinidad and Tobago. Trevor Deane TSTT’s Executive Vice President Broadband Services says that with the upgrade, TSTT will be able to extend the distance limitations that were a feature of its current High-Speed Internet offering. “We have invested in ‘future proof’ technologies that are versatile enough to support current and emerging technologies. Modernising our infrastructure and completing our Metro Ethernet fibre distribution network will mean the sky is the limit for business and residential users.”

    Deane says the upgrade has enabled TSTT to quickly reach critical mass and customers will soon see a value proposition that will be hard to resist. “The final numbers are still being crunched but we are going after an extremely competitive price point with rates for unlimited monthly broadband access starting as low as $79 a month! This is Broadband redefined.”

    Deane says TSTT is very excited about these developments. “Broadband access is the single most important growth area in the communications industry because of the transformative power it has in business and social spheres.” He explains that TSTT is laying the ground work for customers to use broadband access for entertainment, research and education, communication, buying and selling, accessing Government services, health care and much more.

    Deane is confident that TSTT’s macro broadband initiative will single-handedly give Trinidad and Tobago a quantum leap forward. “While we have placed a lot of emphasis on the wired network, we are simultaneously developing our wireless broadband coverage so there will be virtually universal affordable broadband access throughout Trinidad and Tobago, a feat that few anywhere else in the region can boast about.”

    The service will be rolled out in three phases. Customers serviced off the West, San Juan and Diego Martin exchanges will be included in the first phase, while the second phase inclusive of four more exchanges is due to begin by mid November.

  • Teen charged with hacking into Attorney General’s computer??

    Saw this news item in the Wednesday September 19th, 2007 Trinidad Express newspaper :

    Teen charged with hacking into AG’s computer
    Wednesday, September 19th 2007

    A TEENAGER has been charged with hacking into the internet account of the Attorney General’s office.

    Shezie Huggins, 19, yesterday appeared before Magistrate Ejenny Espinet in the Port of Spain First Magistrate’s Court.

    Huggins is alleged to have illegally attained and used the internet account of Attorney General John Jeremie on two separate occasions.

    The incidents are said to have occurred on July 31 and August 1, respectively.

    Huggins, who was represented by attorney Sean Cazabon, pleaded not guilty to the two charges.

    The court heard that police officers entered the Diego Martin home of Huggins’ parents and seized the family computer he is alleged to have used.

    The case has been adjourned to November 20.

    A few observations :

    • It doesn’t mention it, but this is probably the second time in Trinidad and Tobago’s history that someone has been charged under the Computer Misuse Act.
    • The headline is inaccurate, according to the article, the person used the internet account of the Attorney General, not “hack” into the AG’s computer.
    • Is the internet account of the Attorney General’s office a dialup account?!!!

  • 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 :

  • IT related aspects of the 2008 National Budget of Trinidad and Tobago

    The 2008 National Budget of Trinidad and Tobago (PDF ; 337K) was released today in Parliament.

    The IT related aspects contained in the 2008 budget of Trinidad and Tobago :

    Page 27-28 : under ‘Education’

    “…Mr. Speaker, one of the Government’s major focus is the infusion of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in the curriculum of our schools. The main objective of this programme is to prepare students to live in a knowledge-based society.
    Under the Primary Schools Computerization Programme infrastructural work on computer laboratories has been completed at 340 primary schools and eleven special schools and before the end of this fiscal year the majority of these schools will boast modern, fully equipped computer labs.

    Mr. Speaker, Phase I of the ICT in Secondary Schools Programme commenced
    with the provision of computers and network and security systems. Free internet access is now available at one hundred and eighty primary and secondary schools.

    In the new fiscal year, we intend to complete the computerization of 193 primary schools, and 11 special schools. In addition computers and networking will be provided for 133 Secondary Schools throughout the country.

    Phase II of the Secondary Schools ICT Project, which includes purchase of teaching software and provision of classroom collaborative solutions, will also be completed during the coming fiscal period.

    Page 48 – ‘Telecommunications’

    “…Mr. Speaker, the Government is committed to the development of a modern and competitive Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Sector to ensure that all citizens have access to efficient and affordable telecommunications.

    The Government’s goal is to promote ICT acculturation among all citizens through: expanding the use of ICT to modernize the operations of the public sector; increasing the availability of online government information and services; promoting the development of competitive ICT-based businesses; encouraging greater use of ICT in business operations and market transactions; and expanding high speed Internet connectivity to all schools, libraries and community centres.

    In this context Mr. Speaker, the National Broadband Action Plan includes: facilitating the establishment of International Carrier Shared Landing Stations; implementing a public sensitization programme for Broadband in Trinidad and Tobago; facilitating the implementation of a National Internet Exchange Point (IXP); and facilitating the development of a domestic hosting industry.

    These initiatives will help to ensure a sound ICT infrastructure in Trinidad and Tobago thereby facilitating our transition towards a knowledge-based society, using the technology to improve our economic, social and cultural development.

    Pages 63-64 “Legislation to ban the use of Cellular phones while driving.”

    “..Mr. Speaker, in light of the need to reduce the quantum of road accidents and the overall carnage on our roadways, it is proposed to introduce legislation to make it an offence to use cellular phones and other similar electronic devices while driving. It is also proposed to introduce legislation to ban the use of television type monitors in the front seat of vehicles. These measures will involve amendments to the Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act.”