LS telcom completes digital switch-over study for Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS)

Lichtenau – Ottawa - LS telcom has completed a major consulting assignment as part of the Harmonized Caribbean Spectrum Planning and Management Project commissioned by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) financed both projects, which include 14 Caribbean countries altogether.

LS telcom provided expert technical and economic consulting services on harmonized technical and policy approaches for digital broadcast switchover in the Caribbean; and developed recommendations for harmonized white space management in the region. Part of the study was the assessment and analysis of the situation in each participating CTU and OECS member country.

“The Caribbean region presents some unique challenges and opportunities. In many countries, the level of cable and fibre roll-out means that broadcasting could leap-frog digital terrestrial and use other digital methods for distribution. This then opens up the UHF television band completely for alternative services including mobile broadband and white-space,” explained Richard Womersley, Director of Spectrum Consulting at LS telcom and co-author of the recently published book “Understanding Spectrum Liberalisation”.

A stakeholder workshop and capacity building sessions were held in July during which the results and recommendations were presented and discussed and subject matter knowledge was transferred to a large number of Caribbean regulators and broadcasters.