Spectrum management task force to become permanent body, says CTU - Caribbean



The Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) will make its Caribbean Spectrum Management Task Force a permanent body that seeks to provide guidelines for modernizing antiquated spectrum management practices in the region, CTU secretary general Bernadette Lewis told BNamericas.

The task force was formed as part of a project that CTU began with the Canadian International Development Agency.

"Many of the Caribbean administrations were using processes that were more in line with technology that is 100 years old," Lewis said. "The wireless equipment now is very sophisticated. Applying the old processes to the new technologies wouldn't be making efficient use of the spectrum."

The Spectrum Management Task Force carried out audits in several countries, reviewing spectrum managers' existing practices and creating a framework to update working methods.

The body is addressing the following issues: harmonization of spectrum policies, developing consensus approaches to spectrum allocation, the digital dividend and cross-border interference.

Spectrum is a key resource for operators, as they look ahead to deploying faster and better mobile broadband.

In August 2010, the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL), a super regulator overseeing five Caribbean member states - Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines - held public consultations to review its regional radio spectrum plan and considered WiMax and use of the 700MHz band.

Operators have recommended that ECTEL work more closely with the task force, given the advances made by the latter body.

The full interview with Lewis is available for subscribers in this week's Telecommunications Perspectives.



Claro dealers contemplating legal action over proposed Digicel merger - Jamaica



Suppliers of Jamaican mobile operator Claro are considering taking legal action after complaining that they are losing money while waiting for the government to decide on whether to approve the acquisition of Claro by competitor Digicel, RJR News reported.

In mid-July, Jamaican telecommunications minister Daryl Vaz said that a decision on the deal was days away and that it was awaiting comments from the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA), the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) and the Fair Trading Commission (FTC).

Earlier this year, Jamaica's Digicel Group announced an agreement to exchange country assets with Mexican mobile telephony giant América Móvil (NYSE: AMX). Through this deal, Digicel would acquire AMX's Claro business in Jamaica, while at the same time selling its businesses in Honduras and El Salvador to América Móvil.

The suppliers reportedly sent a request to Vaz two weeks ago seeking a meeting to discuss their concerns about the merger. But to date, they have received no response.

The dealers claim they were racking up debts as they had received little or no goods from Claro to sell and were uncertain about how they would be affected if the merger with Digicel went through.

For that reason, legal action is being considered, according to the report.



Roundup: BlackBerry, Claro-Motorola Atrix, Claro-Digicel - Regional



Mexico and Colombia will be the first Latin American countries to see the commercial launch of BlackBerry BBM Music, a cloud-based, social music service, Research In Motion (Nasdaq: RIMM) - maker of the smartphone - said in a statement.

The service will target users of the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service. BBM Music allows users to pick up to 50 tracks a month to listen to on their BlackBerry, including in offline mode.

A closed beta trial of the BBM Music service started August 25 in Canada, the US and the UK.

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Chilean mobile operator Claro has introduced to the local market Motorola Mobility's Atrix 4G dual-core processor Android smartphone plus Motorola's Lapdock, which converts the phone into a netbook, Claro said in a statement.

The Lapdock is thrown in free for consumers who contract a multimedia plan with the Atrix for a monthly fee of 49,990 pesos (US$107).

In addition, Claro announced that it had launched a free WiFi network in the Boulevard restaurant area of one of Santiago's most popular malls, Parque Arauco.

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Jamaica's government has reached a decision regarding the proposed swap between mobile operators Digicel and Claro, but it is not yet able to release details, said information, telecommunications and special projects minister Daryl Vaz, according to a statement on the government website.

"The negotiations are far advanced. A decision has been made, but the decision has conditionalities which are still being discussed and negotiated," Vaz said.

América Móvil agreed earlier this year to sell its Claro Jamaica unit to Digicel in return for Digicel's Honduras and El Salvador operations, plus an undisclosed sum of money.



Roundup: S&P-Maxcom, Oregan Networks, Sencore - Regional



Standard & Poor's (S&P) has lowered its long-term corporate credit and senior secured ratings on Mexican telecommunications provider Maxcom Telecomunicaciones to CCC+ from B-, with a negative outlook, the ratings agency said in a statement.

"The downgrade reflects Maxcom's lower revenue generation, continued negative free operating cash flow and a cash position that restricts the company's financial flexibility," S&P said.

Use this link to see S&P's full report on Maxcom.

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UK firm Oregan Networks, a developer of internet TV receiver technologies, has launched a new hybrid version of its software to deliver broadcast and IP media functionalities in a single software stack, which includes variants for the Latin American markets, the company said in a statement.

The company has implemented variants for the Latin American, European and Asian markets that have adopted the DVB-T or ISDB-T digital broadcast standards on their paths toward the digital switchover.

As part of its multiregional hybrid solution for telecom and broadcast operators, Oregan has emphasized the specific requirements of the emerging broadband and pay-TV markets in Latin America, based on the trend toward the ISDB-T standard, adopted by the majority of countries in the region, including Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru.

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US company Sencore has selected Brazilian firm PHASE Engenharia Indústria e Comércio as the reseller and distributor of its products in Brazil, the former said in a statement.

Based in Rio de Janeiro, PHASE will represent Sencore's complete line of signal transmission and test and measurement solutions.

"The rapidly growing broadcasting landscape in Brazil is currently offering Latin America's best market for digital television transmission and test and measurement products, and it's critical for Sencore to have in-country expertise in selling, marketing and supporting our full product line," said company international business development general manager Tony Oehlerking.

Sencore develops signal transmission solutions for the broadcast, cable, satellite, IPTV, and telecommunications markets. The company's portfolio includes video delivery products, system monitoring and analysis solutions, and test and measurement equipment.



Alcatel-Lucent to deploy LTE pilot projects for Telefónica Spain using LightRadio - Regional



Alcatel-Lucent (Nasdaq: ALU) will deploy two LTE pilot projects for Spain's Telefónica (NYSE: TEF) in Madrid and Barcelona, CNN Expansión reported.

The company competed with Ericsson (Nasdaq: ERIC), Huawei and Nokia Siemens Networks for the project, the report said.

But operator was keen to experiment with Alcatel-Lucent's LightRadio "cube" antenna technology.

Alcatel-Lucent CEO Ben Verwaayen said during a conference on ALU's Q1 results several months ago that the company was collaborating with Telefónica in helping to shape the design of LightRadio, which reduces the components (2G, 3G and LTE) of an antenna into a small cube, where operators can add more cubes in Lego fashion as capacity dictates.