The territory’s three telecommunications companies – Flow, Digicel and CCT Global Communications – were officially granted additional portions of the wireless spectrum by the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission on Tuesday, allowing them to upgrade their wireless internet services.
Communications and Works Minister Mark Vanterpool said government is pleased that the TRC and the operators are at the point where they are settled on the spectrum award so that they can provide better services.
“We hope that as quickly as the award is made the operators can quickly thereafter implement their systems and be able to provide to the public good modern-day high internet speeds, and better telecommunication systems on telephones and the like,” Mr. Vanterpool said. “We are pleased and anxious to see what is to come.”
The TRC initially hoped to allocate the airwaves by last October, but the process was stalled when CCT sued the regulator in High Court for disqualifying it from the allocation process for technical reasons.
The High Court sided with CCT in January, allowing the company to be eligible to receive spectrum.
According to the TRC, all three companies received their first or second spectrum preferences in the allocation process.
“The aim of the award has been to provide the three mobile operators with spectrum they can use to deliver high speed mobile broadband services using LTE technology,” the TRC stated in a press release. “The implementation of this technology in the Virgin Islands will provide enterprises, consumers and citizens with better quality mobile broadband services and is in line with developments that have already occurred in North America and Europe and being implemented elsewhere across the Caribbean.”
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