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Digicel has been a busy shopper since 2013. After recently acquiring a Cable TV license from TATT (Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad & Tobago) as reported in my article Digicel acquires Trinidad and Tobago Cable TV License as Caribbean Fiber Optic Network Expands, I though a quick review was quite appropriate.

First the Cable TV purchases, which began as far back as November 2013:

  • Caribbean Cable Holdings in Anguilla, Nevis and Montserrat on November 2013
  • SAT Telecommunications in Dominica on February 2014
  • WIV Cable in Turks & Caicos on April 2014
  • Telstar in Jamaica on July 2014

I actually wrote about the purchase of WIV Cable TV along with her sister company TCT, operators of the Broadband Cable service TCExpress in my article Digicel Turks and Caicos thinks Streaming over 4G LTE by buying Cable TV Internet Provider, suggesting that it was with the intention to launch a Caribbean-wide Cable TV Streaming Service. That was a wild guess, as to actually do that, you’d need to interconnect the entire Caribbean with high-speed Fiber Optic Cables.

digicel logo

Well it looks like they’ll be doing that as well as I’d speculate in my article Digicel acquires Trinidad and Tobago Cable TV License as Caribbean Fiber Optic Network Expands.

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They’ve recently completed the purchase of 15 segments of Submarine Fiber Optic Cable spanning from Trinidad and Tobago, Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and finally to Jamaica with connectivity to the US of A. This via the purchase of the following companies:

  • Guadeloupe-based Loret Group and Caribbean Fibre Holdings that gives them 12 segments and spans 12 Caribbean countries some 2100 km across from Trinidad and Tobago along the Leeward Islands to the Windward Islands up to Puerto Rico
  • Global Caribbean Fibre and Global Caribbean Network that gives them 3 segments  and spans 3 Countries from Guadeloupe, Puerto Rico and Jamaica and eventually onto to the United States of America

In a Press Release CEO Digicel Group Colm Delves commenting on the completed acquisition of a Submarine Fiber Optic Network, quote: “In our data-hungry world, we are committed to ensuring we deliver innovative products and services to our valued customers. This latest acquisition grants us significant additional submarine fibre capacity, which in turn means we can help our customers achieve their personal and business goals through advanced solutions and multimedia experiences on multiple devices”

Good to not her that CWC is investing some US$1 billion in the Caribbean region and a quarter of that, some US250 million in Jamaica according to the new Chief Executive Officer of CWC, Phil Bentley. Via this investment that’s an expression of confidence in Jamaica, not only are they expanding into 4G LTE using their recently purchased AWS (Advanced Wireless Services) spectrum and FTTH (Fiber to the House), but they may also be doing Streaming TV via expanding LIME T as an IPTV Streaming Service.

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So is Digicel’s Submarine Fiber Optic Network going to be the medium to carry Streaming TV service to the Caribbean? And aside from enhancing their Voice Calling Services and making the Caribbean connected on one Grand Fiber Optic Network, will this Network be used to also roll out FTTH (Fiber to the House) putting them in direct competition with FLOW and CWC (Caribbean Worldwide Communications)?

It looks to be SportsMax  and their plans fit exactly those as mentioned above based on their most recent Joint Press Release, a decent segue to another blog article on their plans!

Stay tuned or as they say, get ready as the Revolution will be Televised as Streaming may be what killed the Local TV in the Caribbean.

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