The days of constant static and disconnections while talking on cell phones will hopefully come to end as The Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) on Monday signed a contract agreement with the Canadian based Nortel Networks, to implement a GSM/GPRS infrastructure.
The delayed implementation of the $28 million dollar system is expected to come on stream in early October.
The system was originally slated to be installed on Dec. 16, 2002, but had to be postponed to allow further manufacturing and updating of equipment.
The first phase of the project will allow BTC to roll out services like mobile web browsing, streaming audio and video and multimedia messaging.
The Nortel Networks GSM/GPRS technology will position BTC to increase network capacity, while driving down operational costs.
It will also support GSM roaming services with BTC's global roaming partners of choice.
Tourists visiting The Bahamas would be able to use their country's cell phone without having to use a credit card or call the operator and vice versa.
Senior Vice President in charge of Operations and Chief Operating Officer at BTC Leon Williams, announced that BTC is presently "beta testing" its singular network, allowing individuals in The Bahamas to use their phones in the United States.
"We are putting them on international roaming and they can use their phones in the United States.
Someone can dial them here in The Bahamas and they can answer the call in the United States," he explained.
Even though implementation of the new system will begin in just a few months, Mr. Williams said that The Bahamas is presently lagging behind other Caribbean regions when it comes to implementing the GSM/GPRS infrastructure.
"We use to be the leader in the deployment of technology but we are now following the leaders. Nortel has signed an agreement with Cable and Wireless in the Caribbean, particularly Jamaica, where they are installing a $500 million network, in addition to TSTT in Trinidad launching their GSM network," he said.
The BTC senior vice president attributed BTC's fall in leadership status to their waiting for BTC to work along with a strategic partner willing to privatise the Company.
He said that privatisation should have been implemented in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, but did not become a reality. This, he added, resulted in BTC not "modernising" its network and is now "playing catch up" with the rest of the Caribbean.
Mr. Williams said that once the GSM/GPRS infrastructure is implemented at BTC, it would accommodate a customer base of some 254,000. He noted however, that the existing TDMA system will not be phased out, but will run parallel to the GSM/GPRS system.
"We are hoping to keep the TDMA system in place for at least three to five years, so that we can provide for those customers who are not on the GSM network, an alternative technology," he said.
Mr. Williams further stated that once the GSM/GPRS system is implemented, it would be very "difficult" for the Company to manage the "process" as they are now giving the 125,000 cell phone customers in The Bahamas the option to "migrate" to the new system that can accommodate various "fancy" cellular phones.
"It is going to be a mad rush by the customers of BTC to try and obtain a GSM phone. It will be very difficult for BTC to manage that churn between the TDMA and GSM customers," he explained, adding that the GSM/GPRS system would also have a different marketing process, whereby various "packages" would be introduced, rather than the flat permanent rate presently charged.
"We will offer packages with 1,000 or 2,000 minutes free, so the packaging and rates would be completely different in structure than they are today," he said.
The GSM/GPRS system is presently the most widely used system to date, as 75 per cent of the world's telecommunications traffic sits on a GSM/GPRS network, signifying some 800 million subscribers globally.
Once implemented, the GSM/GPRS infrastructure will immediately accommodate new subscriber growth and will also lift the existing moratorium on cell phone connections that was implemented by BTC in January. This moratorium resulted from an overcrowding of customers in The Bahamas with cell phones.
The existing TDMA system was originally slated to accommodate 120,000 customers, but presently has 125,000 customers. Mr. Williams noted that in European countries, the average cellular customer talks for some 200 minutes a month, but in The Bahamas, the average cellular customer talks for 378 minutes.
"Not only are we overloaded in terms of numbers, we are overloaded in terms of the cellular use and therefore during the nighttime or 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon you would get a busy signal. This made us put in a moratorium. If we did not do this, then no one would have been able to get through and the system would have collapsed," explained Mr. Williams.
President of Nortel Caribbean and Latin America Dion Joannou, expressed at Monday's launch that the agreement signing between Nortel and the BTC, marks a significant step to revolutionise communication systems in The Bahamas. The agreement, he said, is significant for many reasons, as it fits in with Nortel's vision to transform district networks into one network that is "robust, flexible and secure."
"Secondly, this agreement really serves to strengthen the relationship we have had with BTC in making sure we could offer one of the most innovative and modern systems in The Bahamas going forward and it also shows our commitment to the Caribbean," he said.
Mr. Joannou said that Nortel has a long-standing relationship with BTC and is very proud to have worked with the Company for the past 30 years in many different areas. He noted that this time around, Nortel would work closely with the BTC throughout every step of the new project.
Minister responsible for BTC, Bradley Roberts, expressed that the moratorium placed on cell phones in January has resulted in much hardship for many residents, business and visitors, whose lifestyle depends on a mobile communications network. He noted however, that the installation of the GSM/GPRS infrastructure would put BTC's problems of cellular phone provision to an end.
"We have all heard of the advantageous additional benefits that will come as a result of this overlay and we are grateful. I am sure we will find its features very advantageous," he said, adding that The Bahamas looks forward to the early installation of the system.
The GSM/GPRS system is presently being used by some 400 operators in 190 different countries. Nortel is presently working with 80 different operators in some 50 different countries to deploy the GSM/GPRS system.
Under this new supply agreement, Nortel Networks will provide both core and access solutions from Nortel Networks Wireless Data Network portfolio to overlay BTC's existing TDMA infrastructure with a next generation GSM/GPRS network. The network integration will include implementation of an Enhanced Data GSM Evolution (EDGE) to support migration to third generation wireless services.
Nortel Networks is a leader in migration TDMA wireless networks to GSM/GPRS/EDGE wireless data networks. In the Caribbean, Nortel Networks is working with customers like Cable & Wireless West Indies and TSTT in Trinidad and Tobago, who most recently selected Nortel Networks for their GSM/GPRS network, build outs.
Globally, Nortel Networks has deployed 80 GSM/GPRS networks in more than 50 countries and is supplying GSM/GPRS systems to enable Wireless Data Network services of more than 50 operators around the world.
By Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
