Cayman Islands leads region in 5G network availability: Cayman News Service

Earlier this year, the Cayman Islands was named a leader in wireless broadband connectivity in the region at the Caribbean Spectrum Management Conference in Jamaica. Both Flow and Digicel launched 5G services in June.

When speaking at a conference, Richard MarsdenEmphasizing the need to make spectrum bandwidth available to operators, the senior managing director of NERA Economic Consulting said: “The amount of spectrum released by Caribbean countries for the mobile market varies widely. The Cayman Islands is unusual in the region in that they have already released spectrum.”

“Operators in the Cayman Islands already have the spectrum they need to deploy the latest 5G technology, including the deployment of high-capacity, high-speed networks using larger blocks of spectrum allocated in the 2300, 2500 and 3500 MHz bands.”

According to the Office of Utility Regulation and Competition (OfReg), this means that mobile operators in the Cayman Islands have been provided with the “raw materials” they need to build state-of-the-art connectivity solutions. “Now operators need to invest in the infrastructure to deliver the next generation of wireless services to consumers and businesses, which will support applications such as virtual reality, 3D streaming and calling, as well as remote education and healthcare.”

Sonji Myles, Acting Chief Executive Officer of OfReg, said planning and preparation are key to ensuring the opportunities presented by 5G are fully realised. “The Cayman Islands is one of the first countries in the entire region to offer 5G network services to consumers and businesses and they rightly expect us to do the necessary planning and preparation to ensure it is fit for purpose.”

“A completely new cellular technology network is not something you can just install new equipment and turn on,” he explained. “Before that can happen, we need to carefully plan and manage the radio spectrum available to us.”

“As the industry regulator, OfReg’s role is to open up bandwidth and allocate it efficiently to ensure our operators’ and licensees’ networks have the capacity to deliver the innovative opportunities that 5G will bring. We are working diligently to monitor and assess secure operations, 5G connectivity performance, and licensees’ compliance with their obligations under the terms of their licenses.”