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Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) connects Haiti to outside world

Assisting Haiti with its efforts to upgrade its telephone services, The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) have laid a fiber optic submarine cable between Matthew Town Inagua and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The move is expected to fully connect Haiti to the outside world.

"BTC's technicians from its outside plant division visited Haiti to assist the staff of Teleco d' Haiti with the installation of the cable" said Minister of Works and Utilities Bradley Roberts on Wednesday. "This is the first submarine fiber optic cable connecting Haiti to the outside world so there was little experience in this type of work in Haiti. The cable to Haiti is now installed and passing telephone traffic between The Bahamas and Haiti."

But in addition to upgrading telephone services in Haiti, Mr. Roberts announced that relief is on the way for thousands of cell phone users connected to BTC's network, as the Company's $60 million fiber optic cable, built to connect 14 islands in a ring topology network is finally completed. The costly move will allow GSM cellular technology and high speed Internet to be expanded to the Family Islands. "This cable now provides the platform for the Government to launch its e-government initiatives on these 14 islands and it has the capacity to provide 200 television channels to these fourteen Islands. This makes it possible for every resident to now be a part of the Digital Revolution," Mr. Roberts said.

These 14 Islands are: Andros, Eleuthera, Exuma, Long Island, Ragged Island, Inagua, Mayaguana, San Salvador, Crooked Island, Rum Cay, Cat Island, Abaco, Grand Bahama and New Providence.

Also touting the improved features of BTC's GSM network, Mr. Roberts said BTC has added additional capacity to handle the 150,000 calls being offered each night between 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm on its GSM network. Additional cell sites have been installed on the Eastern Road, Gambier, Cowpen Road, Adelaide, Wyndham Hotel, Super Club Breezes, and the Mall at Marathon. GSM is now installed and in service in Eleuthera: Harbour Island, Lower Bouge, Spanish Wells, Green Castle, Hatchet Bay, Tarpun Bay, Rock Sound, Governor's Harbour and Savannah Sound.

In addition to upgrading its service to encompass additional Family Islands, Mr. Roberts said BTC has been proactive in its planning and building of a modern, robust telecommunications network that will support the mega investment projects touted by the Progressive Liberal Party.