The Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the telecommunications sector regulator, is assessing whether Cable Bahamas’ decision to launch fibre-to-the-premises technology violates the company’s Internet Service Provider (ISP) license, The Tribune can reveal.
In an interview with The Tribune, E. George Moss, the PUC’s executive director, said the regulator was investigating Cable Bahamas’ deployment of the new technology, which began in January, to determine whether it fell within the terms and conditions of their government-issued license.
Andre Foster, Cable Bahamas’ vice president of information technology, admitted the company was engaged in ongoing discussions with the PUC to see whether the company was allowed to carry its Internet services over the new platform, which is based on hybrid fibre coax technology.
He said Cable Bahamas had been testing the platform, which will be used primarily for carrying video serevices, for the past two months. The company would continue trial testing until executives were comfortable with the level of service the platform provides and their ability to deploy it successfully.
“Mr. Foster said of the fibre-to-the-premises technology, “It won’t change our service offerings, except we can provide a lot more in the form of television channels, better Internet access and higher speeds. The new platform is simply a chnage in the medium over which the services are delivered.”
Mr. Foster said Cable Bahamas was well within the scope of its cable television license to use the new platform to transmit video services and even if this had been an issue, the matter did not fall under the PUC’s jurisdiction. The only issue the regulator is examining was whether Internet services could be provided via the FTTmaX platform.
Source: The Tribune
