The Tribune

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) is set to complete its wireless system overhaul on Abaco and the northern Bahamas by mid-May, giving customers improved cellular service, including faster speeds for downloads and browsing on smart phones.

"We have completed 35 of the 41 cell sites in Abaco to date, and expect to have the remaining few completed within the next several weeks," said Marlon Johnson, BTC's spokesman. "When the work is done, customers will enjoy greatly improved service, fewer dropped calls and much faster speeds, as Abaco goes from a 2G platform to the blazing speed of 4G."

New Providence is already covered by 4G, the fastest speed available for wireless users. Grand Bahama is nearly 100 per cent converted to 4G, and BTC said it hopes to have full national roll-out by late August, with Abaco, Bimini and the Berry Islands to go live within days of each other about the middle of May.

"Abaco was a large territory to cover because of all the small cays and the sprawling lay of the land," explained Mr Johnson.

"We have 45 cell sites in New Providence and 41 in Abaco despite the difference in population, so you can see how comprehensive our coverage had to be. Because of the many small islands in addition to Great Abaco, a lot of the material had to be transported by boat or barge, so it was a time-consuming task. Fortunately, we were blessed with good working weather for most of the winter which helped considerably.

"Abaco is the yachting capital of the Bahamas," Mr Johnson added, "attracting thousands of boaters every year. Unlike the rest of the Bahamas, where the main season is November through April, Abaco's big season is summer, when boaters come over primarily from South Florida.

"We are confident that they will be in for a very pleasant surprise when they turn their phones on and find that this little, quiet set of islands and cays has gone 4G. Many of them will be coming from areas where they do not yet have that kind of speed."

Although work is about 80 per cent completed on all cell sites and supporting infrastructure, the launch of 4G will not take place in stages, but will occur all at once when work on the island and cays is 100 per cent complete.

When that date comes, subscribers to 4G using BlackBerrys, Androids (like Samsung Galaxy) or iPhones will be able to upload to YouTube faster, download tunes, save or send photos and browse with Explorer or Firefox. In conjunction with the new speed, the company will open its first renovated store in Abaco on April 26 in Treasure Cay.

BTC launched 4G in Nassau in December, coinciding with the opening of its flagship store in the Mall and Marathon. In early February it launched 4G and a new store in Grand Bahama, and earlier this week it opened its latest store in a new location in the heart of downtown Nassau on Bay and George Streets.