Montserrat is another step closer to be reconnected to the Caribbean’s subsea fibre optic network.
The Government of Montserrat today issued a request for proposals for the installation and operation of an undersea fibre optic cable; inviting all qualified companies, both locally and internationally, to participate. The cable will be Montserrat’s first international fibre optic connection since the mid-1990s, when the eruption of the Soufrière Hills Volcano led to the decommissioning of the island’s only undersea cable connection.
Moving forward with the Montserrat Submarine Fibre Optic Cable Project ensures that Montserrat will no longer be disconnected from the global fibre network and that Montserratian consumers, businesses, and government users will benefit from affordable, reliable, high-quality telecommunications and Internet services.
Further, the tremendous transmission capacity of fibre optic networks, currently in the terabits per second, guarantees that Montserrat’s bandwidth requirements will be comfortably accommodated for at least the next 20 years.
“The Montserrat Submarine Fibre Optic Cable Project will put the island on an equal bandwidth footing with its neighbours throughout the region and allow Montserratians to tae advantage of key digital initiatives such as telemedicine, distance education, and research networks,” said Mr. Denzil West, the Director of Montserrat’s Department of Information, Technology, and eGovernment Services (DITES). “This project represents a significant step in improving Montserrat’s access and connectivity to the ultrafast international networks; and positions Montserrat to attract new and different types of businesses on island.”
The Request for Proposals for the Installation, Operation, and Maintenance of the Montserrat Submarine Fibre Optic Cable Project is available for download via the MyTenders Portal at www.mytenders.co.uk as well as via the Government of Montserrat’s website at www.gov.ms/tenders. Proposals are due by March 6, 2019 and following a period of negotiations with the chosen supplier, implementation of the cable system is expected to begin during the first half of 2019.
