Caribbean ICT watch: Digicel, fiber rollouts

Irish-owned, Caribbean-focused telco Digicel received the consent from holders of its 6.75% senior notes due March 1 to effect amendments to the indenture governing the bonds, according to a statement. 

The amendments provide a 30-day grace period which will automatically be extended to 90 days if Digicel enters into a restructuring support agreement with holders of at least a majority of the outstanding notes during the 30-day period, before a default in the payment of interest. 

As a result, Kingston-based Digicel, the guarantors of the notes and Deutsche Bank Trust Company Americas, as trustee, entered a supplemental indenture dated February 27, implementing the proposed amendments.

***

More than 25,000 homes will access Guyana telecom company GTT’s fiber before the end of the first quarter, according to local outlet Kaieteur News. 

The company plans to achieve 75% homes passed with fiber before the end of 2024, the report said. 

Some 1,100 homes in Bachelor’s Adventure, Paradise, Dazzle Housing Scheme and Bare Root on the East Coast of Demerara are the most recent to have access to GTT’s fiber service, Kaieteur News said.

***

Bahamas telco BTC in on track to complete its fiber-to-the-home rollout in New Providence and Grand Bahama this year, the company said in a statement.

BTC recently expanded the fiber optic network into the communities of Cooper’s Town, Abaco and Sandyport, New Providence. The company said it has also started upgrading the Stapledon Gardens community with the latest technology.

Along with the fiber, BTC invested in improving mobile network connectivity, adding two new mobile sites on Gladstone Road and Venice Bay and conducting mobile network maintenance in New Providence and Grand Bahama. The company also said it “will spend the entire year canvassing communities in the Family Islands, accessing the network and making improvements where necessary.”

Photo: AFP