Caribbean watch: CWC, Huawei-UTS, Caricel-Alepo-Comtech

Caribbean telco Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) is renaming its Advanced Video Services product as Horizon from Flow.

The TV service has already been rebranded in Jamaica and the change will be applied in all other Caribbean markets over the coming months, CWC said.

The news comes after Liberty Global closed its acquisition of CWC for US$7.4bn.

Horizon from Flow is aimed at giving customers greater control when accessing video content.

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Chinese telecom equipment supplier Huawei will provide Curacao-based telco United Telecommunications Services (UTS) its Cloud BB Solution to help the telco build an LTE-Advanced network, according to a statement.

The Cloud BB solution supports CloudRAN networks and will enable Gbps rate speeds. UTS operates in Curacao and Saint Martin.

Huawei said the resource coordination function of the solution can significantly increase the cell-edge throughput in areas with increased customer traffic like tourists hubs such as beaches and city centers.

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Jamaican mobile newcomer Caricel has contracted core network and IT software solutions provider Alepo and advanced communication solutions provider Comtech Telecommunications Corp to help in its build out of an LTE network.

Earlier this month Caricel became the first fully Jamaican-owned telecom company to be granted a local mobile spectrum license (in the 700MHz band).

Caricel, which is owned by Symbiote Investments Ltd, is vying to beat competitors Digicel and LIME to roll out LTE in Jamaica.

As part of the project, Alepo will deploy its complete LTE monetization solution, including its advanced policy and charging control (PCRF), convergent charging and billing (OCS), CRM, and home subscriber server (HSS) products.

Alepo has worked with Digicel Jamaica on multiple projects since 2009.