BAHAMAS DOMESTIC FIBER OPTIC SUBMARINE CABLE (BDSNi)

DECEMBER 8, 2006

Ladies and Gentlemen, I am pleased to be here in Inagua, the most southerly and the third-largest island of The Bahamas and known for its natural wonders. The national bird of The Bahamas, the Flamingo which once graced all the islands and now make their last retreat here. I am advised that these beautiful, rare birds mate and nest in the spring and lay only one egg each year. I am told that nearly a million pounds of salt is produced from the Salinas of this Island by the Morton Salt Company

On August 2nd, 2005, Prime Minister, Perry Gladstone Christie and I, in a press conference at BTC’s Boardroom announced that BTC had been given the go ahead to contract TYCO to build a Fiber Optic Cable Network connecting 14 islands of The Bahamas in a self-healing ring topology with a capacity of 10gigabytes and 200 digital television channels.

The Islands were New Providence, Andros, Eleuthera, Exuma, Long Island, Ragged Island, Inagua, Mayaguana, San Salvador, Rum Cay, Cat Island, Crooked Island, Abaco, and Grand Bahama.

Phase I of this project was completed on time that is December 31, 2005, which connected Inagua to New Providence via Ragged Island, Long Island, Exuma and Eleuthera.

Phase II commenced January of this year and was completed by October of this year.  Phase II included connecting Inagua to New Providence via Mayaguana, San Salvador, Rum Cay, Crooked Island, Cat Island, Abaco and Grand Bahama.  Phase II also included building a spur from Matthew Town, Inagua; to Port-au-Prince, Haiti this Network has allowed BTC to begin building out GSM and I-Connect services in Eleuthera, Exuma, Long Island, Ragged Island, Inagua, Mayaguana, San Salvador, Cat Island, Crooked Island and Abaco. Heretofore, the provision of these services would have been impossible.

This new platform would not only allow BTC to build out its services but would allow other Government Agencies like ZNS to improve its quality of Radio and TV transmission services in these islands and it will also facilitate the expansion of the Government’s data network and the Royal Bahamas’ Police Force communications network.

This is in keeping with my Government’s philosophy that every resident should have equal access to telecommunications facility so that the residents are not marginalized along the telecommunication line

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to the Board of Directors, the Executive Management Team and staff of BTC for their dedication and hard work in bringing this Network into being.

As Minister responsible for BTC, I now declare this Bahamas Domestic Fiber Optic Submarine Cable Network commissioned, and in so doing, I would like to make the official telephone call to the Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Perry Gladstone Christie.

God Bless and have a wonderful day.