THL PLANS TO BUILD TELECOM EMPIRE (Monday 20 February, 2006 )

Word of this came from Stephen Scoon, chairman of the company set to take over Sunbeach Communications and launch its much-delayed cellular network.

Scoon told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY that Sunbeach represented the first stage of its expansion to ultimately "become the largest Pan-Caribbean mobile provider of advanced CDMA voice and data services" with Caribbean shareholders. He said Laqtel Ltd of Trinidad and Tobago was the start of this vision.

Among the reasons he gave for their investment in Sunbeach - which was over $20 million - was to tap into the North American tourist market to Barbados, 50 per cent of whom use CDMA networks and are unable to roam here.

He added that by introducing CDMA to the region, which he said was superior to the GSM being used by C &W and Digicel, they also hoped to reach markets like those in Europe, Australia and India which were moving toward CDMA. This was also with a view to tapping into those markets for the Cricket World Cup next year in the Caribbean.

Scoon said this network would provide advantages in terms of voice quality, coverage and clarity, and would be more data-centric - a better carrier of data services. "It will be faster than any dial-up connection you can find," he said.

Richard Nixon, a director of Nortel, technology advisors for THL, said: "For Sunbeach, this technology complements its current customer base by providing faster speed and more advanced services, all on its own network."

Scoon was one of three Telcom officials elected to the Sunbeach board at last Thursday's shareholders' meeting at Savannah Hotel, the others being Vijay Seegobin and Mark Laquis.

Dr Harold Moreley is chairman of the board, with the other member being Ian Worrell, Sunbeach's executive director.

by Bryan Walker (Nation Newspaper - Barbados Buysiness Authority)