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BTC commissions domestic submarine network in Inagua

The Bahamas Telecommu-nications Company (BTC) on Friday fulfilled a company promise to connect The Bahamas to the world with a commissioning service for its Bahamas Domestic Sub-marine Network Internation-al (BDSNI) cable down in Matthew Town, Inagua.

"The BDSNI is a Fibre Optic Cable Network connecting 14 islands of The Bahamas in a self-healing ring topology with a capacity of 10 gigabytes and 200 digital television channels," explained BTC Acting President and CEO Leon Williams.

The islands include New Providence, Andros, Ele-uthera, Exuma, Long Island, Ragged Island, Inagua, Mayaguana, San Salvador, Rum Cay, Cat Island, Crooked Island, Abaco and Grand Bahama.

Williams said it was definitely a red letter day in Inagua with the commissioning of the BDSNI cable, a $60 million investment that will revolutionize Telecommunications in the Bahamas.

Making the grand declaration was Minister of Works and Utilities Bradley Roberts, who reflected on the day the BDSNI contract was signed.

"On August 2, 2005, Prime Minister Perry Gladstone Christie and I, in a press conference at BTC's boardroom announced that BTC had been given the go ahead to contract TYCO to build a Fibre Optic Cable Network at a cost of $60 million and is owned 100 percent by BTC," he said.

Minister Roberts said that the project was to be executed in two phases, the first of which was completed on December 31, 2005, connecting Inagua to New Providence via Ragged Island, Long Island, Exuma and Eleuthera.

"Phase two commenced January of this year and was completed by October of this year, on time and within budget. Phase two included connecting Inagua to New providence via Mayaguana, San Salvador, Rum Cay, Crooked Island, Cat island, Abaco and Grand Bahama," he said. "This phase also included building a spur from Matthew Town, Inagua to Port-au-Prince, Haiti."

He noted that this network, which now allows BTC to begin building out GSM and I Connect services in the Family Islands was completed in record time.

The minister noted that this new service would not only allow BTC to build out its services but also allow other government agencies like ZNS to improve its quality of radio and television transmission services in these islands.

He said that it will also facilitate the expansion of the Government's data network, the Royal Bahamas Police Force's communication network and the modernization of education.

This, the minister says is keeping with Perry Christie's government's philosophy, "that every resident should have equal access to telecommunications facility so that the residents are not marginalized along the telecommunication line."

Thankful that the Bahamas was spared the wrath of any hurricanes this year, Minister Roberts noted with great excitement that if another storm was to hit these islands BTC's BDSNI will ensure that communication remains un-hampered.

Minister Roberts made the commissioning official with a live televised phone call to the Prime Minister in his office back in New Providence.

Noting that he and his team had spent the past few weeks travelling the islands of the Bahamas launching BTC's new services, Williams said that by December 31, 2006, GSM should be available to the entire northern Bahamas.

"So between now and Christmas we should have at least 10 GSM sites in Exuma," he said. "We already have GSM working in Inagua, Rum Cay, Ragged Island, Andros, Eleuthera and at least two sites in Cat Island."

BTC is headed to Bimini today to launch, among its many packages, Blackberry, GSM, Vibe and more.