The first telephone was introduced in Trinidad and Tobago in 1883 and the first telephone exchange was located adjacent to the Town Hall (now City Hall) on Frederick Street. By 1898, the telephone system had developed sufficiently to justify enactment of the Telephone Communication Ordinance.
Around 1890, the telephone service extended westward out of Port of Spain to Carenage and then onwards to one customer in Chaguaramas. In the early 1900s, the government operated telephone lines in rural areas, namely from Arima to Manzanilla and from San Fernando to Cedros. History records show that a Mr. Bell of Bacolet started the service in Tobago.
The early system consisted of local battery operated telephones connected to a magnetoswitchboard, a far cry from the sophisticated electronic system which is in operation today. Special cables called enamel cables were developed for use in this country, and it is reported that their use became worldwide because of their durability.
The British-owned Trinidad Consolidated Telephones Limited was responsible for the early developmental growth of the telephone network in Trinidad and Tobago from the mid-1930s until 1960.
Approximately 6,300 lines were in service when the country got its first 1000-line step-by-step exchange in 1936. In 1947, Consolidated purchased the government-operated system in Tobago and the first teleprinter (TELEX) link was established in 1949.
After a prolonged strike in 1960, which existed for 1,124 days, the government of the day purchased the company, and on November 30, Trinidad Consolidated Telephones Limited became the state owned Trinidad and Tobago Telephone Service.
In 1968, the Government entered into a partnership with Continental Telephone of the United States, to whom it sold fifty percent of the holdings. This was later dissolved in 1973 and the company returned to full ownership by the Government.
Over the years, automatic step-by-step exchanges were gradually extended to suburban and urban areas as the company sought to keep pace with the development of the country. Development programmes were implemented in 1935, 1943, 1952 and 1964. A loan agreement was signed in 1974 with the World Bank for 18 million dollars to carry out a massive development programme. This resulted in the introduction of modern, electronic stored programme equipment at the exchanges.
In 1979, the government contracted Nippon Electric of Japan for the supply and installation of 48,000 additional lines and associated equipment.
The major thrust of the company's development programme took place during the period 1982 to 1987.
Between 1983 and 1989, DMS-100 digital switches were installed throughout the country and, as a result of this new technology, training of employees became a significant factor. The new technology saw the introduction of new services such as international direct distance dialing and vertical services (call waiting, call forwarding and conference calling).
The company's operations were divided into the following divisions - Technical Operations, Marketing, Human Resources and Finance. The company's employee headcount was 2,300 (including contractors).
There were approximately 160,000 customers in four major operating districts.
TEXTEL
The Trinidad and Tobago External Telecommunications Company Limited (TEXTEL), was incorporated as a limited liability company in December 1969 a joint venture participation, with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago holding 51% of the share capital and Cable and Wireless (West Indies) Limited, the other 49%.
The company acquired the assets of Cable and Wireless in Trinidad and Tobago and assumed responsibility for external telecommunications, commencing 1 January 1970. As the legally constituted body charged with the responsibility for telecommunication links between the country and the rest of the world, TEXTEL provided the transmission, switching and signalling facilities to interconnect with the international facilities of all other countries.
Enterprise Services
Private Branch Exchange Equipment (Avaya / MITEL / Cisco) Domestic and International Leased Circuits Metro Ethernet Trunk Lines, Direct Lines and Value Added Services (CLASS Services) Internet Services – leased line, blink broadband, blink on the Go, blink Hot Spot Mobile Services – Mobile Handsets along with bMobile Corporate Plans BlackBerry – BES services, BIS services, BPS solutions[buzzword], BlackBerry for Prepaid Video Conferencing VC Cloud Services Telepresence SIP Trunks Security Services
TSTT has re-branded its mobile division to bmobile along with other Cable and Wireless companies in the region. TSTT's mobile service currently uses the GSM network for data and voice. In 2007 they began launching data services on a CDMA network. Their previous TDMA network was discontinued on August 31, 2006.[1]
As of 2006 competition has been introduced into its mobile market in Trinidad and Tobago. Digicel, which also serves other countries in the Caribbean, began operations on their GSM network in early 2006. Digicel and TSTT have since had legal battles over an inter-connection agreement to allow communication between their two networks.[2]LAQTEL, a Trinidadian owned company, was also awarded a CDMA license but on March 14, 2008, had its license revoked.[3]
TSTT Internet Services include dial up service, wireless broadband service based on EVDO technology, and ADSL-based Broadband service. It's also the most expensive per Mbp/s in the country. TSTT also offers a variety of data solutions[buzzword] for the corporate sector including leased circuits, virtual private networks, frame relay services, and metro Ethernet service with speeds up to 1GB. In October 2007, TSTT introduced its ADSL2+ broadband internet service branded "Blink Broadband" with speeds up to 10Mbit/s.[4] However lagging behind their competitor, Columbus Communications, they still have a large portion of the market secured due to their previous copper network. Yet, to outdated technology and packages on their copper and fiber networks many people have flocked to the competitor. If these errors are not corrected, they are sure to fail. They have since sought refuge in the ever-expanding technology of LTE.[5] Yet, they are making the same mistakes as before, throttling download and upload speeds next to nothing Mbit/s. This has gained them the upper hand in accessing markets blocked by topographical features. Many rural settlements have since been the main targets to obtain revenue. The service in question, has not lived up to expectations, which is mainly due poor performance attributed to the over-saturation of users and lack of available bandwidth.
The new packages include up to a maximum of 40Mbp/s download and 4Mbp/s upload only on their fiber network limited to certain areas. Their LTE network supports up to 5Mbp/s download and 1Mbp/s upload.[6]
TSTT has rolled out its new TV service also branded as "bmobile" which is based on the IPTV technology. The company has rolled out a wireless version of this service based on GSM technology although they are no longer offering this product and is offering customers the option to sign up for Amplia TV instead.[9]
Retired Blink Entertainment brand logo
Security services
TSTT has entered the electronic surveillance market as well by launching their "Blink Vigilance" (now bsecure) service with an optional armed response add-on.
Related Research Articles
Country Code: +1284 International Call Prefix: 011
Telecommunications in Haiti Internet, radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones.
Telecommunications in Jamaica include the fixed and mobile telephone networks, radio, television, and the Internet.
The telecommunications in Russia has undergone significant changes since the 1980s, radio was a major new technology in the 1920s, when the Communists had recently come to power. Soviet authorities realized that the "ham" operator was highly individualistic and encouraged private initiative – too much so for the totalitarian regime. Criminal penalties were imposed but the working solution was to avoid broadcasting over the air. Instead radio programs were transmitted by copper wire, using a hub and spoke system, to loudspeakers in approved listening stations, such as the "Red" corner of a factory. This resulted in thousands of companies licensed to offer communication services today. Due to the enormous size of the country Russia today, the country leads in the number of TV broadcast stations and repeaters. The foundation for liberalization of broadcasting was laid by the decree signed by the President of the USSR in 1990. Telecommunication is mainly regulated through the Federal Law "On Communications" and the Federal Law "On Mass Media"
Telecommunications in Slovakia includes fixed and mobile telephones, radio, television, and the Internet.
Telecommunications infrastructure in South Africa provides modern and efficient service to urban areas, including cellular and internet services. The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) is the watchdog of the telecommunications in the country.
Telecommunications in Trinidad and Tobago include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
In Venezuela the first law on telecommunications was approved in 1940. It identified the responsibility of the state in regard to telephone and other telecommunication systems, including radio and television services.
Wireless local loop (WLL) is the use of a wireless communications link as the "last mile / first mile" connection for delivering plain old telephone service (POTS) or Internet access to telecommunications customers. Various types of WLL systems and technologies exist.
Singtel Optus Pty Limited is an Australian telecommunications company headquartered in Macquarie Park, a suburb in the Northern Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Singaporean telecommunications company Singtel.
Arima, officially The Royal Chartered Borough of Arima is the easternmost and second largest in area of the three boroughs of Trinidad and Tobago. It is geographically adjacent to Sangre Grande and Arouca at the south central foothills of the Northern Range. To the south is the Caroni–Arena Dam. Coterminous with Town of Arima since 1888, the borough of Arima is the fourth-largest municipality in population in the country. The census estimated it had 33,606 residents in 2011.
Telekom Malaysia Berhad or simply TM is a Malaysian telecommunications company founded in 1984. Beginning as the national telecommunications company for fixed line, radio, and television broadcasting services, it has evolved to become the country's largest provider of broadband services, data, fixed line, pay television, and network services. TM ventured into the LTE space with the launch of TMgo, its 4G offering. TM's 850 MHz service was rebranded as unifi Mobile in January 2018.
Sri Lanka Telecom PLC, doing business as SLT-MOBITEL, is the national telecommunications services provider in Sri Lanka and one of the country's largest companies with an annual turnover in excess of Rs 40 billion. The company provides domestic and corporate services which include fixed and wireless telephony, Internet access and IT services to domestic, public and business sector customers. As of 2018 SLT-MOBITEL was Sri Lanka's second largest mobile network operator with over 7.9 million subscribers.
bmobile is a Mobile Phone, Home Security provider, and fixed wireless provider of Trinidad and Tobago, operating as a division of TSTT.
North-Eastern Pennsylvania Telephone Company (NEP) is a telecommunications provider headquartered in Forest City, Pennsylvania. The company operates as a local exchange carrier in rural areas of Lackawanna County, Wayne County and Susquehanna County. Besides landline telephone, NEP offers Broadband Internet, NEP Datavision IPTV and Wireless Phone Services.
Telecommunications in Guyana include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet. Early telecommunications were owned by large foreign firms until the industry was nationalized in the 1970s. Government stifled criticism with a tight control of the media, and the infrastructure lagged behind other countries, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GT&T) holding a monopoly on most such services. In a 2012 census report on Guyanese households, 55.5% had a radio, 82.7% had a television, 27.8% had a personal computer, and 16.2% had internet at home, 49.3% had a telephone landline, and 70.6% had a cellular phone.
Telecommunications in Hungary include radio, television, fixed and mobile telephones, and the Internet.
LIME, an acronym for 'Landline, Internet, Mobile, Entertainment', was a communications provider owned by the British based Cable & Wireless Communications for its operations in Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Turks & Caicos in the Caribbean.
3G mobile telephony was relatively slow to be adopted globally. In some instances, 3G networks do not use the same radio frequencies as 2G so mobile operators must build entirely new networks and license entirely new frequencies, especially so to achieve high data transmission rates. Other delays were due to the expenses of upgrading transmission hardware, especially for UMTS, whose deployment required the replacement of most broadcast towers. Due to these issues and difficulties with deployment, many carriers delayed acquisition of these updated capabilities.
Flow is a trade name of the Caribbean former telecommunications provider Cable & Wireless Communications used to market cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services. Flow also replaced the UTS brand in the Dutch and French Caribbean, following their acquisition of United Telecommunications Service (UTS).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
