Trans-Caribbean to build new fibre link to Cuba

Trans-Caribbean to build new fibre link to Cuba
published: Friday | August 18, 2006
Ashford W. Meikle, Business Reporter

Trans-Caribbean Cable Company Jamaica Limited (TCCC Jamaica) has applied
for an expansion of its licence to construct fibre-optic links to
Jamaica, but with the matter still under review by regulators, its
principals were cagey about their plans. TCCC Jamaica, one of three
companies licensed to construct and operate an international sub-sea
fibre-optic cable facility to Jamaica, wants to build another link from
Cuba, and has asked the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) to amend
its licence accordingly.
OUR, in a published notice, said Trans-Caribbean wanted "additional
authority to construct, operate and maintain land telecommunications
undersea fibre-optic cable between Kingston ... and Santiago, Cuba."
TCCC Jamaica is a joint venture between Jamaica Network Access Point
Limited (JNAP) and Trans-Caribbean Cable Company LLC (TCCC), a New
Jersey, US-based company.

No comment
Brian Crawford, TCCC president, directed queries to the local
representative for JNAP, who in turn declined to comment. In December
2004, Jamaica awarded two separate licences to Trans-Caribbean and
FibraLink Jamaica (a partnership between Merit Communications and
Caribbean Crossing) to construct and operate fibre-optic cables linking
Jamaica to North America and the rest of the world. Another company,
Digicel, was unsuccessful in its go-it-alone bid, and later pulled out
of the TCCC Jamaica consortium, which had over 30 partners. Cable and
Wireless Jamaica, prior to that point, was the only company with a
fibre-optic facility to link the country internationally.

Original licence
Trans-Continental's original licence (TCCN-S1) allowed it to construct
its undersea cable from Kingston to Santo Domingo in the Dominican
Republic, connecting to additional facilities that extended to Puerto
Rico - which in January 2005 was an estimated US$32 million investment.
TCCC, in its proposal, said that the existing cables in Puerto Rico
would provide further connectivity to North America and the rest of the
world."What they applied for and whatever commitments they have under
the existing licence still stands. It's just an addition," said OUR
deputy director Courtney Jackson."The original licence provided for a
link between Dominican Republic and Jamaica. They now have an additional
link between Jamaica and Cuba." Based on the restrictions of the
original licence, Trans Continental cannot deploy its network before
December this year.

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