The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Cable Bahamas was yesterday said to be increasing internet coverage and “evolving” its services to Eleuthera through products such as managed Wi-FI access.

Dominic Petty, the BISX-listed communications provider’s northern Bahamas director, told the Eleuthera Business Outlook conference webinar that that company is starting to expand Internet hot-spots throughout the entire island.

He said: “We have already started to explore a lot of those things. As you would have recalled with the managed Wi-Fi access, the greatest thing with the Wi-Fi is you can actually go in spaces where the fixed-line cannot go. So with fixed-line you would have to build up a huge infrastructure, and you would have to spend a huge capital expenditure, unlike Wi-Fi. With Wi-Fi you transmit data through the airwaves.”

Mr Petty added: “We already actually have this set up in various locales throughout The Bahamas. In fact we have it in South Eleuthera; we have a managed Wi-Fi set up. We were in conversations in Grand Bahama to put Wi-Fi in public places and things like that. Immediately after the storm [Dorian] we did do a number of locations on the various cays within The Bahamas; the Abaco cays, in Freeport, and so definitely capabilities in things like that are well within our ability to actually move on.”

Mr Petty said Cable Bahamas is also setting up mobile check-ins for Eleuthera, adding: “Cable Bahamas had several evolutions. This is the thing. A lot of persons see Cable Bahamas as a connectivity company, but we as of today have evolved into a more solution-oriented business, and so whatever that’s required, sometimes we customise solutions that suit the needs of the customer.

“So because we are in the connectivity business we do several other things outside of connectivity, and then we work with the various partners in order to accomplish many, many tasks.”

Mr Petty continued: “So in the past we would have done things out of the scope of the regular of just providing television, Internet and telephone. We also venture into cyber security as well as the managed Wi-Fi, so there is a number of various things we provide for our customers.”