Telecommunications in Barbados: Difference between revisions
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{{Main|Cable and Wireless (Caribbean)}} |
{{Main|Cable and Wireless (Caribbean)}} |
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[[File:All Red Line.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The [[All Red Line]] cable for the [[British Empire]]. Barbados(Barbadoes) functioned as an interconnection-point between [[Bermuda]] and [[Ascension Island]] in the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. c.a. 1903]] |
[[File:All Red Line.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The [[All Red Line]] cable for the [[British Empire]]. Barbados(Barbadoes) functioned as an interconnection-point between [[Bermuda]] and [[Ascension Island]] in the [[Atlantic Ocean]]. c.a. 1903]] |
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Barbados has had various forms of Communications as early as the 1840s. Some of the earliest expressions of inter-island communication includes a number of signal stations built along the high points of the island to relay acts of transgression towards the island to the [[Saint Ann's Garrison]] on the south-west coast. The first telephone network in the country was developed in 1884.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.candw.com.bb/barbados/about_us/history/history_01.html |title=About us – History |author=Staff writer |year=2008 |department= |website=www.candw.com.bb |agency=Cable & |
Barbados has had various forms of Communications as early as the 1840s. Some of the earliest expressions of inter-island communication includes a number of signal stations built along the high points of the island to relay acts of transgression towards the island to the [[Saint Ann's Garrison]] on the south-west coast. The first telephone network in the country was developed in 1884.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.candw.com.bb/barbados/about_us/history/history_01.html |title=About us – History |author=Staff writer |year=2008 |department= |website=www.candw.com.bb |agency=Cable & Wireless (Barbados) |access-date=22 March 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201232535/http://www.candw.com.bb/barbados/about_us/history/history_01.html |archive-date=1 December 2008 |quote= }}</ref> As the former [[British Empire]]'s [[All Red Line]] came into existence during the early 1900s, Barbados played an important role as a crucial link in the [[Atlantic Ocean|trans-Atlantic]] communications network. By 1935 a hard wired cable-based radio network was later deployed throughout the country to broadcast the [[Rediffusion]] service directly from [[London]] to homes and business across Barbados.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.starcomnetwork.net/aboutus/index.htm |title=Our History of Broadcasting Excellence |author=Staff writer |year=2009 |department= |website=www.starcomnetwork.net |agency=STARCOM Network Inc. |access-date=22 March 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090901192633/http://www.starcomnetwork.net/aboutus/index.htm |archive-date=1 September 2009 |quote= }}</ref> |
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In 2001 the [[Government of Barbados]] and the local [[Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier]] (ILEC) provider, [[Cable and Wireless (Caribbean)|Cable & Wireless]] signed a MOU beginning a phased process of liberalisation of the international segment of Barbados' telecommunications sector.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barbados.gov.bb/Docs/MOU_CW.pdf |title=MOU Document |website=www.barbados.gov.bb |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050401073309/http://www.barbados.gov.bb/Docs/MOU_CW.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The process was aimed at bringing Barbados' sector into compliance with the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO). The plan outlined the first phase commencing on 1 December 2001 and the entire process ending with full liberalisation being achieved on 1 August 2003. As these target dates were missed, the Phase I process was later commenced on 1 November 2002, with Phase II and III beginning on 16 November 2003 and 21 February 2004 respectively. Full liberalisation was attained in February, 2005, for the international telecommunications services market.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telecoms.gov.bb/AboutUs/tabid/108/Default.aspx |title= |
In 2001 the [[Government of Barbados]] and the local [[Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier]] (ILEC) provider, [[Cable and Wireless (Caribbean)|Cable & Wireless]] signed a MOU beginning a phased process of liberalisation of the international segment of Barbados' telecommunications sector.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.barbados.gov.bb/Docs/MOU_CW.pdf |title=MOU Document |website=www.barbados.gov.bb |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050401073309/http://www.barbados.gov.bb/Docs/MOU_CW.pdf |archive-date=1 April 2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The process was aimed at bringing Barbados' sector into compliance with the [[World Trade Organization]] (WTO). The plan outlined the first phase commencing on 1 December 2001 and the entire process ending with full liberalisation being achieved on 1 August 2003. As these target dates were missed, the Phase I process was later commenced on 1 November 2002, with Phase II and III beginning on 16 November 2003 and 21 February 2004 respectively. Full liberalisation was attained in February, 2005, for the international telecommunications services market.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.telecoms.gov.bb/AboutUs/tabid/108/Default.aspx |title=About Us |access-date=8 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704215944/http://www.telecoms.gov.bb/AboutUs/tabid/108/Default.aspx |archive-date=4 July 2010}}</ref> |
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== Telephone == |
== Telephone == |
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'''[[Country calling code|Country Code]]: [[Area code 246|+1.246]]'''<br /> |
'''[[Country calling code|Country Code]]: [[Area code 246|+1.246]]'''<br /> |
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'''[[International Call Prefix]]: 011'''<ref>[http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-E.164C-2011-PDF-E.pdf ''Dialing Procedures (International Prefix, National (Trunk) Prefix and National (Significant) Number) (in Accordance with ITY-T Recommendation E.164 (11/2010))], Annex to ITU Operational Bulletin No. 994-15.XII.2011, International Telecommunication Union (ITU, Geneva), 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2014.</ref> (outside NANP) |
'''[[International Call Prefix]]: 011'''<ref>[http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-t/opb/sp/T-SP-E.164C-2011-PDF-E.pdf ''Dialing Procedures (International Prefix, National (Trunk) Prefix and National (Significant) Number) (in Accordance with ITY-T Recommendation E.164 (11/2010))''], Annex to ITU Operational Bulletin No. 994-15.XII.2011, International Telecommunication Union (ITU, Geneva), 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2014.</ref> (outside NANP) |
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Calls from Barbados to the US, Canada, and other NANP Caribbean nations, are dialled as 1 + NANP area code + 7-digit number. Calls from Barbados to non-NANP countries are dialled as 011 + country code + phone number with local area code. |
Calls from Barbados to the US, Canada, and other NANP Caribbean nations, are dialled as 1 + NANP area code + 7-digit number. Calls from Barbados to non-NANP countries are dialled as 011 + country code + phone number with local area code. |
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== Internet == |
== Internet == |
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; [[internet service provider|Internet Service Providers]] (ISPs): |
; [[internet service provider|Internet Service Providers]] (ISPs): |
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: 3+ (1999) |
: 3+ (1999) |
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: ([[Cable and Wireless (Caribbean)|Cable & Wireless]] (CaribSurf), [[TeleBarbados|TeleBarbados/Freemotion.bb]] (frequently reported for malicious phishing practices by users accessing their webmail domain found via mail.free.bb),<ref>WOT.COM</ref> [[Sunbeach Communications]]) |
: ([[Cable and Wireless (Caribbean)|Cable & Wireless]] (CaribSurf), [[TeleBarbados|TeleBarbados/Freemotion.bb]] (frequently reported for malicious phishing practices by users accessing their webmail domain found via mail.free.bb),<ref>WOT.COM</ref> [[Sunbeach Communications]]) |
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Telephone services in Barbados are provided by: [[Cable and Wireless (Caribbean)|LIME]] (''Incumbent''), [[Digicel]], [[Sunbeach]], WIISCOM, |
Telephone services in Barbados are provided by: [[Cable and Wireless (Caribbean)|LIME]] (''Incumbent''), [[Digicel]], [[Sunbeach]], WIISCOM, |
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Internet services in the country are provided by: [[CariAccess]], [[CaribSurf]], [[Sunbeach Communications]], [[TeleBarbados]]/Freemotion.bb, [[WI-NET INC.]] |
Internet services in the country are provided by: [[CariAccess]], [[CaribSurf]], Neptune Communications, [[Sunbeach Communications]], [[TeleBarbados]]/Freemotion.bb, [[WI-NET INC.]] |
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ADSL services are widely available, as are Frame Relay and other more advanced services. |
ADSL services are widely available, as are Frame Relay and other more advanced services. |
Revision as of 17:06, 31 January 2023
Communications in Barbados refers to the telephony, internet, postal, radio, and television systems of Barbados. Barbados has long been an informational and communications centre in the Caribbean region. Electricity coverage throughout Barbados is good and reliable. Usage is high and provided by a service monopoly, Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd. (a division of Canada-based Emera).
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) call sign prefix allocated for all radio and television broadcasts in Barbados is 8P, and this replaced the former ZN and VP6 as a British territory.
History
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/All_Red_Line.jpg/200px-All_Red_Line.jpg)
Barbados has had various forms of Communications as early as the 1840s. Some of the earliest expressions of inter-island communication includes a number of signal stations built along the high points of the island to relay acts of transgression towards the island to the Saint Ann's Garrison on the south-west coast. The first telephone network in the country was developed in 1884.[1] As the former British Empire's All Red Line came into existence during the early 1900s, Barbados played an important role as a crucial link in the trans-Atlantic communications network. By 1935 a hard wired cable-based radio network was later deployed throughout the country to broadcast the Rediffusion service directly from London to homes and business across Barbados.[2] In 2001 the Government of Barbados and the local Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (ILEC) provider, Cable & Wireless signed a MOU beginning a phased process of liberalisation of the international segment of Barbados' telecommunications sector.[3] The process was aimed at bringing Barbados' sector into compliance with the World Trade Organization (WTO). The plan outlined the first phase commencing on 1 December 2001 and the entire process ending with full liberalisation being achieved on 1 August 2003. As these target dates were missed, the Phase I process was later commenced on 1 November 2002, with Phase II and III beginning on 16 November 2003 and 21 February 2004 respectively. Full liberalisation was attained in February, 2005, for the international telecommunications services market.[4]
Telephone
Country Code: +1.246
International Call Prefix: 011[5] (outside NANP)
Calls from Barbados to the US, Canada, and other NANP Caribbean nations, are dialled as 1 + NANP area code + 7-digit number. Calls from Barbados to non-NANP countries are dialled as 011 + country code + phone number with local area code.
Number Format: nxx-xxxx
The rate of telecommunications penetration in Barbados ranks among the highest in the world. According to the International Telecommunication Union, telephone service for the period 2000–2004, stated Barbados had 124 telephones in usage for every 100 people.[6] Telecommunications are virtually universally accessible to all.
- Telephones - main lines in use
- 134,900 (2005)
- county comparison to the world: 133
- Telephones - mobile cellular
- 237,100 (2006)
- county comparison to the world: 165
- Telephone system
-
- general assessment: fixed-line teledensity of roughly 50 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone density of about 85 per 100 persons
- domestic: island-wide automatic telephone system
- international access code: +1.246 (in the North American Numbering Plan, Area code 246);
- landing point for:
- 1) the East Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS) submarine cable with links to 13 other islands in the eastern Caribbean extending from the British Virgin Islands to Trinidad;
- 2); the Antilles Crossing Phase 1 link to the US Virgin Islands via Saint Lucia;
- satellite earth stations - 1 (Intelsat - Atlantic Ocean); tropospheric scatter to Trinidad and Saint Lucia (2007)
- Mobile providers
-
- Current: Liberty Latin America[7] (d/b/a Flow), Digicel
- Defunct: Cingular Wireless(divested to Digicel), Sunbeach
Broadcasting
- Radio broadcast stations
- AM 2, FM 6, shortwave 0 (2004)
- (VOB-AM 790 (Gospel), 8PX-AM 900 (CBC)
- (BBS 90.7FM, PBS 91.9FM, BBC 92.1FM, VOB 92.9FM, CBC 94.7FM, HOTT 95.3FM, Mix 96.9FM, Gospel 97.5FM, The One 98.1FM, WE 99.9FM(SVG), Q 100.7FM, SLAM 101.1FM, Faith 102.1FM, Love 104.1FM, Radio GED 106.1 FM)
- Radios
- 237,000 (1997)
- Television broadcast stations
- 1 (plus two cable channels) (2004)
- 8PX-TV (C.B.C. TV8)
- Public Broadcast Service (PBS) -- Scheduled for 2009
- Televisions
- 76,000 (1997)
Internet
- Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
- 3+ (1999)
- (Cable & Wireless (CaribSurf), TeleBarbados/Freemotion.bb (frequently reported for malicious phishing practices by users accessing their webmail domain found via mail.free.bb),[8] Sunbeach Communications)
- Internet country code
- .BB
- Internet hosts
- 104 (2008)
- county comparison to the world: 178
- Internet users
- 160,000 (2005)
- county comparison to the world: 131
Broadband Internet access
Globally, the country of Barbados was ranked by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and UNICEF to be one of the most wired countries in the world on a per capita basis. The report entitled "State Of The World's Children 2007" stated Barbados had rate of Internet usage which was 55 users for every 100 people. This ranking meant that only 13 nations: Australia, Canada, Finland, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, San Marino, Singapore, Sweden, Britain and the United States had a higher ratios per head of population. In so scoring this placed Barbados in the lead for the Caribbean and Latin America regions.
Telephone services in Barbados are provided by: LIME (Incumbent), Digicel, Sunbeach, WIISCOM, Internet services in the country are provided by: CariAccess, CaribSurf, Neptune Communications, Sunbeach Communications, TeleBarbados/Freemotion.bb, WI-NET INC.
ADSL services are widely available, as are Frame Relay and other more advanced services.
See also
- .bb
- Call signs in North America
- List of countries by number of Internet users
- List of television stations in the Caribbean#Barbados
- List of radio stations in Barbados
- List of telecommunications companies in Barbados
References
This article incorporates public domain material from The World Factbook (2024 ed.). CIA. (Archived 2000 edition.), 2004, 2006 and 2009
- ^ Staff writer (2008). "About us – History". www.candw.com.bb. Cable & Wireless (Barbados). Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ Staff writer (2009). "Our History of Broadcasting Excellence". www.starcomnetwork.net. STARCOM Network Inc. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
- ^ "MOU Document" (PDF). www.barbados.gov.bb. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 April 2005. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
- ^ "About Us". Archived from the original on 4 July 2010. Retrieved 8 July 2010.
- ^ Dialing Procedures (International Prefix, National (Trunk) Prefix and National (Significant) Number) (in Accordance with ITY-T Recommendation E.164 (11/2010)), Annex to ITU Operational Bulletin No. 994-15.XII.2011, International Telecommunication Union (ITU, Geneva), 15 December 2011. Retrieved 2 January 2014.
- ^ Best, Tony (27 December 2006). "Barbados well wired". Nation Newspaper. Archived from the original on 23 December 2007. Retrieved 30 June 2009.
- ^ Our Brands C&W, Liberty Latin America
- ^ WOT.COM
Further reading
- Cable & Wireless in Barbados, Posted on 19 September 2016 by BajanThings.com
- International Communication in Barbados 50 years ago, Posted on 15 March 2017 by BajanThings.com
External links
- telecoms.gov.bb - Government of Barbados' Telecommunications unit
- The Telecommunications Act, 2001 + Amendment(s)