The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) expects to spend morethan $40 million this financial year on network upgrades, the telecommunications provider having recently selected a China-based submarine cable system supplier to upgrade its Bahamas Domestic Submarine Network International (BDSNi). Huawei Marine recently announced that it had been chosen to upgrade the BDSNi system, which links more than 20 sites between Bahamas and Haiti, and spans across some 3,500 kilometres.

“They are doing work to continue to upgrade and add capacity to our submarine cables that link the islands of the Bahamas, Florida and Haiti,” said Marlon Johnson, BTC’s senior vice-president of marketing and communications.

“What it does is it gives us greater carrying capacity and more resiliency across the islands. It allows us to deal with our data traffic more efficiently, so that not only New Providence but all the islands can get more data bandwidth and the like. Adding to the resiliency and the capability of our network is part of our overall capital improvement product.” Mr Johnson added: “We expect that we will spend more than $40 million this year across the islands. That includes what we do on the mobile side; to add more capacity and resiliency to the mobile network, which will lead to improved data speed and the introduction of LTE.

“The remainder of that money will go to our landline plant, including investments in the submarine, the NGN network and all of the touch points as part of the much-needed investment to the entire scope of our infrastructure.” Huawei Marine said its upgrade will “enable BDSNi to deliver more flexible and cost-effective services with the implementation of this upgrade capacity, providing 640 Gbps through the application of proven, enhanced Raman technology”.

The company added: “This connectivity, and the ability to implement the new services between the main islands of the Bahamas and Haiti, will provide a future proof platform to enable BTC to service expanding regional demand.

“The application of the Optix BWS 1600S, with in-service upgrades and a compact footprint, will enable BDSNi to capitalise on a small footprint, thus providing further operational benefits”.