LinkBermuda’s Network Aiming For 100MB

September 26, 2012

[Updated with video] LinkBermuda will be investing in a new island-wide fibre optic network called Project FibreLink, which is designed to offer internet speeds of 100MB.

Ann Petley-Jones, LinkBermuda’s CEO, stated: “We are excited to be making this very significant investment in Bermuda, which we expect will help foster economic growth and materially improve the Island’s communications infrastructure.

“This Island-wide, state of the art fibre optic network project will position Bermuda as one of the most ‘wired’ jurisdictions in the world, with resulting benefits to consumers, local and multi-national companies, Government, and students.

“With the Government’s commitment to timely implementation of telecom regulatory reform to be completed in March of next year, and our firm belief in Bermuda’s future, we are starting the first stage of this large, multi-year construction project.

“When LinkBermuda purchased Cable & Wireless’ Bermuda operations we stated that we would be known for our integrity, our innovation and our intent to improve the infrastructure. We remain committed to those principles. This is our third major investment in Bermuda over the past eighteen months.

“In that time, we have repatriated many job functions from the UK to Bermuda, resulting in the hiring of additional Bermudians; we have invested in improved customer service, infrastructure and processes; and we have strengthened the operations.

“We intend to continue those improvements to Bermuda’s communications infrastructure and to create additional employment for Bermudians. We will extend the innovative engineering and construction techniques to new products and services as Bermuda regulatory reform is implemented.

“In Canada our Group routinely offers 100-megabit Internet service to the home, which is almost 10 times faster than most Internet offerings in Bermuda today. Over the next few months we will be announcing a number of new products and services for the Bermuda market.”

Lee Bragg, CEO, EastLink, stated: “We are delighted with our investments in Bermuda and recognize that Bermuda is a significant global player in international business and finance. We believe robust communications infrastructure is a pre-requisite to maintaining Bermuda’s competitive position globally, whilst also materially enhancing the consumers’ access to and use of the latest technologies. This further major investment is indicative of our belief in the Island and its potential.”

Edgar Dill, FibreLink’s Program Manager, stated: “The engineering details are well advanced and we plan to deploy advanced construction techniques for this fibre optic network build. We intend to build this network to a very high standard, which will enable us to integrate new communications technologies, both corporate and consumer, as they arise.

“This should allow our customers to be ‘future proofed’ in terms of their broadband communications needs. We will communicate regularly with customers, the public and Government as Project FibreLink proceeds.”

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Comments (45)

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  1. navin johnson says:

    oops with Minister Bean sitting there you can be guaranteed that this will result in committee and consultation and so on and so forth….feet will drag and political speeches will be made…..just get on with it and brng Bermuda into the 21st century…

  2. swing voter says:

    wow, first major infrastructure buildout by the private sector in years. I guess everyone that hand their hand out for ‘greesin’ has left politics LOL…..now what about those phamtom hotel projects Wayne?

  3. Just One says:

    Pure cynicism on this island! Can’t we just look forward to having faster broadband in the near future? This will give us better internet access, digital television, and other options for personal communications (voice calls, video calls, etc). We should all be excited that one of these companies is finally making a bold infrastructure upgrade. I know I am!

    • Torian says:

      Just wait for the pricing for this speed. Can’t wait to pay 200-300 a month for it xD

      • ABC says:

        LOL 2 FUNNY and dont get ur speed how bout mins bean put up a law were customers sue for not gettin theirs speed

        after all dats fasles adverstisin

        [___]

        • Come Correct says:

          The fine print says you will receive speeds of UP TO such and such a speed, that’s their safety net.

          • eye on you says:

            ever thought it might mean – different speeds packages will be offered UP TO 100mbps/

      • Keepin' it Real...4Real! says:

        @torian…yup you beat me to it….prices to be announced!…haha

  4. Outkasted says:

    ITS ABOUT TIME OHH I HAVE BEEN WAITING WITH BAITED BREATH. PLEASE DELIVER ME LINK BERMUDA!!!

    • Call me cynical ,but says:

      Hope your ‘baited’ (should be ”Bated”) breath doesn’t turn out to be a good winding thanks to a huge kick in the stomach from good old Bermuda greed in the price structure.

      I would speculate that the price we pay for the non delivery of 4-6 meg service now will be 10′xs of that for a pie in the sky affordable 50+ meg service.

      You know , that old thing about Bermudians being used to paying more. Not withstanding that there’s no money here any more.
      Betcha anything the price for this service will blow your knickers off and the delivery will still disappoint.

  5. Why do these politicos need to attend business roll outs.
    Do not recall Obama attending the announcement of the I phone 5 or Gorbacov sitting next to Mr Smirnoff to announce grape flavored Vodka.
    Let the market be politicians.

    • Aunt Nelli Child says:

      @40acresnmule – don’t act the a$$… the government should take credit where credit is due… they are working diligently on improving our economy – dammit give them their due instead of supporting the Gibbons and Dunkleys who are hoarding all the business opportunities lay waiting to see if the OBA wins government. Bermuda blame the OBA for the economy not moving faster… they are like the republicans holding back and blaming President Obama.

      • Um Um Like says:

        You’re a f*#*@&! idiot! THIS government is working on improving the economy?! Hah!

      • Y-Gurl says:

        Sure, lets give Govenment credit where its due ,it only took them 12 years to empty the candy store that it had taken 80 years to stock up!

    • Y-Gurl says:

      Theres an election coming

    • i gotta be me says:

      exactly

  6. 32n64w says:

    Great news for Bermuda. Now we just need the Government to complete the telecom reforms they first promised years ago!

    • 16s32e says:

      Now that is a blog worthy comment if i do say so myself. Why have they dragged there feet on the reforms for the telecom community? Have the deals not been sweet enough or have the right peoples hands not been greased yet for it to happen?

  7. meow! says:

    Link Bermuda is an excellent venture as many international and professional people that visit the island complain about our internet speeds..if we truly want to deliver quality service for the prices we charge for hotel rooms ect, this will be an excellent service tool within the international business..

  8. Truth (Original) says:

    Thank you Link Bermuda !!

    • navin johnson says:

      and good luck Link Bermuda dealing with the red tape of Government….as Minister Bean said he will the reform of the telecommunication industry available NEXT MARCH!!!! maybe the next Government will move at 100MB speed.

  9. concern says:

    This is an excellent step in the right direction! I hope this is just the beginning and in the next few years they will offer Gigabit speed internet to anyone who wishes to subscribe.

  10. Y-Gurl says:

    This is great, but I heard last night their partner will be BELCO in this estimated $56 – 100millon fibre project, isnt it a little strange that BELCO’s parent company is buying up companies and forming partnerships all over the place but claims not to have enough money to re invest in their own plant and needs you and I to pay one of the highest power costs on the planet which is riddled with fake surcharges, maybe if they spent less on their shopping spree and more on their core business Bermudains could see a reduction in costs.

  11. Antwan says:

    All these announcements about faster spped is GREAT. However, what also needs to be addressed is the COST to the consumer! My 4MB internet access through cable & Northrock is about $140..4 MB per month!! So what would 20MB, 50MB or 100MB cost? Bermuda already has one of the highest internet cost in the world.

    • dreka says:

      When the internet speeds get fast enough, the costs will be relative. In other words, if the speeds went from 2, 4, 8 and 10 for $60, $90, $110, $140 respectively then when the speeds go from 20, 50, 70 and 100MB/s the prices will be relative. At least, this is how it works in North America.

  12. Kevin McCottry says:

    This is great news – yes, regardless of the “presumed costs”! It’s been far too long for an island, like ours, to be sooooo far behind in technology.

    Congrats LinkBermuda – I hope your customer base expands 100 fold with this “up-to-date” technology.

    Sign me up!!!

  13. Xeno Kills says:

    $140 for 4 MB = $35 per MB

    100 MB at $35 = $3500/month

    I pay $70 for 7MB in Canada. Let’s hope they don’t use this math.

    • hmm says:

      Nah. Here 100mbit will be like 350-400 a month probably. I’d be happy to pay that, and I could get people to pay for it for me since I could host fileservers on it for them and they’d pay the costs since we are in a fairly sensible legal climate for net privacy.

  14. stdavids says:

    wait a minute. cablevision already has a fibre optic link throughout the island. why not partner with them. heck. they are capable of providing that level of speed. there will be millions spent for an already existing network. this means more cables on already weighed down poles. I dont think belco can guarantee the structural integrity of more cables on their poles. Do we really need more poles and cables in the air to destroy the beauty of this island and create potential chaos during high winds.

    • hmm says:

      Man, don’t complain about a company investing in our infrastructure AND providing competition lol.

  15. PLP CONFUSED says:

    OK SO help me out right here.

    Fisherman and Cabinet do not want Digicel to go ahead and bundle services so they give the green light to LinkBermuda and Key Tech with foreign owenership

    Help me understand the STANDING STRONG FOR BERMUDIANS concept again as Link and Key will bring dozens of foreign workers in

    PLP you have lost your way as even you accept a White Paper over Black Paper any day of the week

    Give us OBA at least they pretend to like Black Paper

    So much for the Green Paper on Gaming…..oh I forgot Furbert Dodwell and Uncle Maxwell are drafting that there

    • US Observer in Pink Sand says:

      HEAR HEAR!!!

      • swing voter says:

        Digicel got what they wanted. They enjoy revenues from LD dispite rules and regs preventing such. Link and KeyTech aren’t breaking the telecom rules at the moment. Sounds like you want to claim all of the marbles in the ring no matter who is playing by the rules.

  16. But says:

    Sounds good. Hope I don’t have to sell one of my kidneys to afford it.

  17. Hmmm says:

    What I still want to know is why we are forced to go through TWO different companies for internet. If they can find a way where we only have to go through one company with decent/reliable speeds i’ll be happy.

    One thing that does sound good is that with everyone upping their speeds, i think(hope) we’ll see prices drop a bit due to more competition

    • dreka says:

      Hopefully LinkBermuda will change that when this is launched, similar to how they do it in Canada with EastLink. I know I’d rather go to one company for everything if I could. LinkBermuda may just be the company to finally change things. They have the infrastructure and capital to do this.

  18. Verbal Kint says:

    Gov’ts. Telecom Commission and Digicel have a yearlong he said/she said that is still in the courts, and the Minister in charge of all that is out front at the launch of another company’s private venture. Why does that bother me so much?

  19. cox Must go says:

    marc bean for premier he makes rhe big decisions to help us all