Cable Bahamas changes Internet landscape with 500% speed increases for all customers New service level to deliver up to 70 megabits per second speed
Nassau, Bahamas, April 15, 2013 -- Cable Bahamas announced a quantum leap forward for its REVON Broadband Internet subscribers and for The Bahamas, with the launch of a dramatic increase in speeds of more than 500 per cent. These major speed increases come with no change in costs to any of the company's existing levels of service. The company also announced an entirely new offering that will be released in the coming weeks and that will deliver up to 70 megabits per second Internet access.
Cable Bahamas Ltd's Head of Marketing at Cable Bahamas David Burrows (LEFT) and Vice President of Engineering John Gomez (RIGHT) announced at a press conference on Friday that the company would be launching "mind-blowing" new Internet access speeds for all of their customers on April 22 in New Providence and Grand Bahama, and May 20 in Abaco and Eleuthera. REVON Broadband Internet subscribers would experience at least a 500% increase in speeds with no change in costs. The company is also launching a new speed level of 70 megabits per second next month. (Photo: Keen i Media Ltd)
REVON Broadband Internet customers will receive the new speed offerings starting Monday, April 22 in New Providence and Grand Bahama, and Monday, May 20 in Abaco and Eleuthera.
Cable Bahamas executives announced the speed increases at a press conference on Friday. As the company that first introduced "always on" broadband Internet service to The Bahamas in 2000, this evolution of broadband services was a natural progression, enabled by Cable Bahamas' extensive fibre-optic network.
"We are reaping the rewards of great planning and design," said Vice President of Engineering John Gomez. "Because of the way we designed our network, we can continually expand and deliver the technology that our customers demand. That foundation has enabled us to adapt and grow as needs change, without having to rebuild on top of old technology."
Head of Marketing at Cable Bahamas David Burrows announced the specific speed levels as follows: REVON subscribers receiving 3 megabits per second service will be upgraded to a new service level of up to 15 megabits per second; subscribers currently at 6 megabits per second will receive up to 30 megabits per second; and, those currently receiving 9 megabits per second will get up to 50 megabits per second.
Mr Burrows emphasised that the first level of service the company is providing will now be five times faster than what they currently experience.
In addition, Mr Burrows announced an entirely new residential level of service. "We are excited to announce our newest broadband service, REVON Extreme, which will debut in the coming weeks which will deliver mind-blowing speeds of up to 70 megabits per second," Burrows said. "This is what might be available in the major cities of North America, Asia or Europe. It's the kind of performance that is beyond anything that has been seen for residential subscribers in The Bahamas before.
"These speed increases are the most dramatic change seen in The Bahamas since households and businesses moved from cumbersome dial-up to Cable Bahamas' broadband Internet," claimed Mr Burrows. "We have always been the market leader in The Bahamas for Internet access ever since we first introduced broadband to the country in 2000. When DSL finally came along, the phone line-based service offered just 1 megabit per second, while we were offering 3, 6 and 9 megabits per second speeds. Today, we've set a whole new standard for speed that is unsurpassable."
Mr Burrows said that Cable Bahamas has made prudent and careful decisions throughout its technology evolution, and those decisions helped secure the BISX-listed company's continued position as the market leader for the foreseeable future.
When asked what motivated the company to increase their Internet speeds so significantly, Mr Burrows, who also heads up product development and management of the REVON product, explained that the demands of subscribers today are dramatically more than just a few years ago. Internet usage, the company claims, does not just increase with each user that comes online, but it is the increasing number of devices that are running Internet-intensive applications at the same time in the household.
"Our lives have changed so much," Mr Burrows said. "A typical family of three or four people can easily have multiple Internet-connected devices in their home. We've got desktop and laptop computers, tablets, smart phones, music players, smart TVs, and video game consoles, all connected to a single home network. A recent international study showed that iPad usage here in The Bahamas is ninth highest per capita in the world -- we love our Internet and smart devices, and with these new speeds, Cable Bahamas' customers can have the confidence that we will more than meet those demands."
Mr Burrows further explained: "YouTube, Facebook, online video games, data backups, remote applications, and streaming audio and HD video services demand more speed and require a network with the capacity to handle it. Anything less than 10 megabits per second is simply inadequate to meet the needs of Bahamian families in the future." He added that all REVON commercial Internet subscribers, using both cable modems and those with premium fibre optic-based service, will also see across-the-board increases in speed and performance, up to 500 megabits per second, previously unheard of broadband Internet speeds in the business sector in The Bahamas.
Cable Bahamas' engineers, support teams and technicians have been involved in intensive training and preparation for the launch of REVON's new broadband Internet speeds, which began in late 2011. This work has gone from lab testing to real-world trials, which have confirmed the reliability and robust nature of the telecommunications company's network.
"The transfer of knowledge and raising the bar among our technical and support teams has been critical in ensuring that we understand the true range of our network," explained Vice President Gomez. "As a 100 per cent Bahamian company, it is vitally important that we set a new standard within our own ranks. This means that more of our own people are not only designing and creating these new advances, but we are also the ones managing it for our future."
Beyond the direct significantly-improved experience that REVON Broadband Internet subscribers will have, Mr Burrows stated that these extraordinary speed increases could have a direct impact on The Bahamas' economy.
Recently, the International Telecommunications Union reported on a study that showed that "broadband availability and speed are strong drivers in an economy," and that "doubling the broadband speed for the economy of an OECD country increases its GDP by 0.3 per cent". Cable Bahamas estimates that, for The Bahamas, their new speed levels could represent a significant increase in GDP growth. Faster Internet speeds are a factor that will help move The Bahamas into the lead position for average Internet speed among countries in the region.
"Based on that study, we know that increases in Internet access speeds have a direct impact on a country's GDP, and we are proud to know that we are doing our part to benefit every sector of our economy. That, along with boosting The Bahamas' position in the region and among the major developing countries in the world, demonstrates just how important this is for our nation," Mr Burrows claimed.
The company estimates that these new speeds could move the average broadband speed for The Bahamas from its current 4 megabits per second to between 13 and 17 megabits per second, potentially faster than the average speeds of countries like the United States, Canada and France.
About Cable Bahamas Ltd. Cable Bahamas (CBL) is the communications provider of choice and the first to offer Triple Play services to The Bahamas. Services are provided under the REV suite of products including REVOICE, REVON and REVTV covering telephony, Internet and video respectively. Additionally CBL offers international data connectivity, disaster recovery and web hosting. All services are provided to residential and business customers on 16 islands in The Bahamas.
In 2009, CBL received a 15 year license from the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) that allows it to provide any type of network communication services inclusive of voice, data and video services. In May 2011, CBL acquired SRG/IndiGO to become the first Triple Play provider. The company also created the Cable Cares Foundation which has awarded over $2.0 million to local Bahamian non-profit organisations since inception.
