The Tribune

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) has installed five new cellular towers in New Providence, in a bid to improve service quality for mobile phone users in key traffic areas.

The five mobile towers have been erected at R.M. Bailey Park, Quarry Mission Park, the Defence Force Base, Farrington Road and the Carmichael Road Police Station.

The installations are part of the recently-announced $65 million ‘Upgrade Bahamas’ capital spending plan to enhance and improve BTC’s networks.

Some $26 million of the ‘Upgrade Bahamas’ budget is being spent on the mobile network, addressing coverage and capacity issues, and dropped calls. Another 24 mobile cell sites are currently being developed throughout the Bahamas.

Key target areas include Westridge, which will address dropped calls along the route to the airport; East Street South;, Bay Street near the Hilton Hotel; Palmdale; and Collins Avenue. Four mobile sites will be erected in the Freeport metro area to ease congestion near the city centre.

Eldri Mackey, BTC’s vice- president of marketing, said: “Our customers have spoken, and we are making the necessary improvements to address the concerns. These five key areas are now experiencing better call quality and a reduction in dropped calls.

“The Quarry Mission mobile site has brought improved coverage in the Chippingham and Meeting Street areas, and improvements are now being felt on East-West Highway and the surrounding areas of the Mall at Marathon with the R.M. Bailey site.

“Carmichael Road continues to evolve, and the sites at the Carmichael Road Police Station and the Defence Force Base are providing an upgraded mobile experience for the thousands of people who live and do business in the area.

“Lastly, the new mobile tower on Farrington Road is helping to offload traffic from our JFK and Poinciana mobile towers.”

In addition to the 4G mobile network expansion project, BTC is upgrading its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network. By March 2015, an extra 107 mobile sites across the Bahamas will have LTE coverage.