Island Sun Newspaper

CCT Boatphone to bring top-notch Wireless Communications to the BVI

CCT Boatphone is about to bring world class wireless communications capabilities to the BVI, an investment of just about $8m, it was announced here last Thursday.
Working in conjunction with a consortium of global high tech firms, CCT Boatphone will soon introduce global roaming and multimedia messaging service to the islands. The new services are expected to be generally available beginning May 2004, said General Manager Rob Lyons.
Global roaming will enable visitors and residents alike to use their suitably equipped mobile telephones in some 170 nations worldwide, without the bother of buying or renting a new phone or changing their mobile telephone number as they move from country to country.
Tourists visiting the BVI will soon be able to make and receive mobile calls as easily as if they were in their hometown. Likewise, BVI residents travelling abroad will be able to use their wireless phones with complete ease wherever they go. Global roaming is enabled by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), a terrestrial and satellite communications network.
In addition to GSM global roaming, CCT Boatphone will introduce Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). This will enable CCT Boatphone subscribers to send and receive text, pictures, audio, video or combinations thereof over their mobile telephones.
For example, using one of the many popular camera phones now on the market, a subscriber could shoot a short video segment, complete with sound and text titles, and send it to one friend or a dozen simultaneously. Multimedia messages received can be stored in the handset or forwarded on to others.
“Both of these enhancements to the local telecommunications infrastructure are expected to prove particularly beneficial to the tourist industry, which generates about half (45%) of the nation’s gross domestic product,” Mr. Lyons indicated.
CCT Boatphone was founded in 1986. It is owned by Dr. Henry Jarecki and Sage Investments/BVI Investment Club.