Friday, November 17, 2017

Puerto Rico to develop IoT lab in Bayamón – Puerto Rico

Jamaica’s new ID system to leverage govt’s IT infra – Jamaica

ICT: The week in 10 stories – Regional

Dominican Republic to tender 30MHz in the AWS band – Dominican R.

ICT tender watch: Trinidad and Tobago consultancy, Jamaica servers – Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago

Puerto Rico to develop IoT lab in Bayamón – Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico is working on the development of an internet of things (IoT) laboratory in the city of Bayamón, the first of its kind in the Caribbean.

Business accelerator Engine-4, who is heading the laboratory, was granted US$560,000 to develop the project, local dailies reported.

Industrial development agency PRIDCO provided US$250,000 from the special economic development fund FEDE. Of these, US$189,000 will be directed at the smart city project and the rest will be used to acquire equipment and other products.

Technology fund FCTI will contribute US$50,000 and the remaining US$260,000 will come from the Bayamón municipal government.

The initiative is the first step in a project to turn Bayamón into a smart city. Puerto Rico’s governor Ricardo Rosselló said the project represents progress for the local IoT sector, which seeks to become a technology and innovation hub in the Caribbean.

Although recent hurricanes inflicted severe damage on Puerto Rico’s telecom and IT infrastructure investments keep flowing in. UK system integrator Logicalis just launched operations in Puerto Rico to cater to Caribbean markets.

Jamaica’s new ID system to leverage govt’s IT infra – Jamaica

The implementation of the so-called national identification system (NIDS) by Jamaica’s government will prompt the modernization of public IT infrastructure, supporting it via a ripple effect.

NIDS director Warren Vernon expects the system to roll out in 2019.

In the meantime, several procurement processes and tenders for the acquisition of hardware, software and services related to the implementation of the project should be opened.

Among the equipment likely to be sought are enrolment stations, computer systems, fingerprint scanners, cameras, and manual signature capture devices.

“Most of the project’s budget will be used to upgrade the government’s data centre, which is e-Gov. [and includes] all of the ministries, departments and agencies providing connectivity [and] ensuring that the relevant security systems and processes are in place,” Vernon was quoted as saying by the Jamaican government news service.

The NIDS, which is being facilitated under the National Identification and Registration Bill, will provide a comprehensive and secure structure to enable the capture and storage of identity information for all Jamaicans, the government said.

Under the system, each citizen will be provided with a randomized nine-digit national identification number valid for life.

The bill passed the senate on November 13 with 168 amendments and went back to the lower house for a new vote.

ICT: The week in 10 stories – Regional

PARAGUAY

Paraguay’s telecoms regulator Conatel has officially launched an auction for the 700MHz band.

According to Conatel head Teresita Palacios, seven licenses will be auctioned at US$12mn each. Licenses will come with social commitments to build telecenters and supply notebooks to schoolchildren.

Questions regarding the bidding rules can be made until November 24 and offers will be received and opened on December 4.

BOLIVIA

Bolivia’s plans to launch a second satellite are still on the table, and the country’s space agency, ABE, has estimated the cost of the project at US$250mn and expects the spacecraft to be in orbit in 2021.

Bolivia launched its first satellite, Tupac Katari, in December of 2013 from the Xichang satellite launch center in China and with an investment of US$302mn, 85% of which was provided by China’s Development Bank, with the rest coming from the Bolivian government.

CUBA

Cuba has advanced in its transition to digital terrestrial television (DTT), a process that will conclude with an analogue blackout that experts believe could take place in 2023.

Hugo Andrés Fernández, an engineer at state-run IT group GEIC, said during an event in Havana that DTT signals currently cover 60% of Cuban territory and 70% of the population. According to Fernández, it is likely that coverage could reach 100% within six years, which would facilitate the analogue blackout, reported local dailies.

REGIONAL

Latin American investments in 4G technologies are expected to reach an annual average of US$13bn between 2017 and 2020, according to consultancy Global Data.

This would represent a drop compared to the annual average of US$16bn invested between 2013 and 2016.

VENEZUELA

Spanish operator Telefónica is investing some 30bn bolívares (US$8.9mn) to expand its LTE network in Venezuela and cover six new cities.

To do this, the company will deploy 160 4G nodes, expanding its LTE coverage by 60%. The telco is already providing 4G services in the cities of Porlamar, Cumaná and El Tigre, and three other cities will be covered in the first quarter of next year, Telefónica Venezuela president Pedro Cortez was quoted as saying by media outlet Konzapata.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

The Dominican Republic’s telecom regulator Indotel has launched a tender for 30MHz of spectrum in the AWS band (1700-2100MHz).

The AWS band is suitable to deploy 4G networks and provide LTE services, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

BRAZIL

Brazilian state-run telco Telebras is considering abandoning the idea of awarding part of the capacity of Brazil’s SGDC geostationary satellite for defense and communications and retaining the entire project for itself.

This was one of the suggestions raised by Telebras president Maximiliano Martinhão.

After three postponements, no formal bidders showed up for an auction on October 31 to sell private companies 57% of the capacity of the SGDC satellite, which was launched in May.

PERU

Peru’s telecoms regulator Osiptel has ordered mobile operators to temporarily suspend sales of unlimited internet plans, saying they have not provided clear information to users.

The watchdog has given the operators one working day to implement the decision or face fines of 202,500-607,500 soles (US$62,000-187,500).

Earlier this week, Osiptel called on the telcos to clearly state the terms and conditions of “all-you-can-eat” data plans recently introduced by Entel, Movistar and Claro.

URUGUAY

Uruguay’s government has signed a loan agreement with the World Bank for US$12mn to develop a series of digital initiatives including the Plan Ceibal for digital schools and e-signatures, according to a statement on the presidential website.

The loan is for 17.5 years with a five-year grace period. The loan was signed using digital signature.

The funds will go to the e-government and information and knowledge society agency (Agesic), the research and innovation agency (ANII), the office of public accounts (CGN), the tax office (DGI), the Plan Ceibal and foreign trade office (VUCE).

REGIONAL

BNamericas spoke to Cristina Magdalena, director of business innovation at Japanese IT firm Fujitsu, about the IoT and artificial intelligence solutions sought by Mexican companies.

Dominican Republic to tender 30MHz in the AWS band – Dominican R.

The Dominican Republic’s telecom regulator Indotel has launched a tender for 30MHz of spectrum in the AWS band (1700-2100MHz).

The AWS band is suitable to deploy 4G networks and provide LTE services, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

The spectrum tendered is part of the blocks that were not awarded in an auction held in 2014, Indotel said in a press release. The 30MHz comprises the last segment of spectrum designated for public mobile telecom services in the short term, according to the Dominican Republic’s national frequency allocation plan.

Bidding documents and tender guidelines will be available on Idotel’s portal on November 15.

ICT tender watch: Trinidad and Tobago consultancy, Jamaica servers – Jamaica, Trinidad & Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago’s ministry of trade and industry (MTI) is seeking a consultant to provide advisory services to enhance the TTBizlink single electronic window application software.

The selected consultant will provide the service for approximately 70 non-consecutive working days over a period of 15 months, according to a notice.

MTI invites eligible consultants to send expressions of interest to piusew@gov.tt no later than November 30 at midnight Trinidad time. Clarification requests may also be sent to this address, under the heading “Request for Clarifications”.

Bidding documents are available at MTI’s portal.

***

Jamaica is inviting suppliers to present their quotations for the procurement of servers and storage area networks for clinical trial management systems.

The tender is being conducted by the finance and public service ministry and is divided into five lots.

Selected companies will supply, commission, and implement two blade servers (lot 1), a type-A storage area network (lot 2), a type-B storage area network (lot 3), two rack servers (lot 4), and two fiber channel switches (lot 5).

Bids may be submitted through the government’s procurement website or by writing to procurement@egovja.com.

Submission deadline is December 13, 2017, at 2pm local time.

The information presented and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of CANTO and/or its members