Press Release
Regional economies are set to receive a big boost as CWC, LIME’s parent company, mobilizes ‘Project Marlin’ – its US$1.05b investment-led strategy.
This major network upgrade investment of US$1.05b represents a 30% or a US$250m CAPEX increase over the previous year. By this increased spend on network upgrade, LIME brings the latest telecoms technology – island-wide Superfast 4G and 4G LTE plus Superfast fibre optic Broadband to its Caribbean markets.
The thirteen Caribbean markets that make up the LIME portfolio will receive major benefits as a result of this network upgrade investment.Barbados has now received a US$80m upgrade. Additionally, they are soon to
complete the first phase of the fibre to the home roll-out to enable customers to, among other things, enjoy Broadband speeds of up to100megabits per second.
LIME already operates a fibre Broadband network in the Cayman Islands. With a US$30m financial investment, Cayman completed the fibre build-out programme with over 11k homes passed. An additional US$20m was invested in cables that connect Cayman with the rest of the world.
A sum of US$92m in upgrade investment has been allocated to Jamaica. Since April 1, approximately 126 mobile sites have been upgraded with 4G technology expected to be completed by year end.A total investment of US$44.5m has been allocated to transform the network in the northern islands cluster of Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Turks & Caicos Islands, St. Kitts & Nevis and Montserrat. These islands will benefit from maximum reliability and 100% coverage of Superfast 4G and 4G LTE mobile and Superfast Broadband penetration.
While in the southern region, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Grenada and Dominica are set to gain US$42.5m worth of network upgrade bringing 100% coverage of Superfast 4G and Superfast Broadband penetration to these island nations.
Martin Roos, LIME Caribbean CEO said, “LIME’s investment is a big boost to regional economies. The value of having advanced, globally competitive technology that offers faster speeds, greater reliability, enhanced capability, much
more capacity and improved resilience particularly in this hurricane belt, cannot be overstated.”
The CEO also said, “For businesses and governments network speeds, capacity, reliability and resilience are non-negotiable. As the ‘technology backbone’ of the Caribbean for over 140 years, LIME also has the best enterprise connectivity network in the Caribbean with 184 Internet Protocol / Multi-Protocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) nodes across 14 markets including the Bahamas and our 7 partner networks. Undoubtedly, LIME has the biggest and most resilient corporate data network in the region. LIME has more of our network in ducts, in buildings and provide more alternative routes on and off island in case of ‘drunk driver’ fibre cut.”
LIME’s new thrust to upgrade the network within its Caribbean markets serves to unleash the full potential of these island nations by fostering greater economic development, advancing educational opportunities, E-commerce, healthcare innovations among a myriad of other intrinsic benefits.In addition to network upgrade, each year LIME, one the region’s biggest investors and employers, injects more than US$10 million into the local
economies of the Caribbean countries within which it operates, through community development initiatives and sponsorships.The thirteen markets within the LIME Caribbean network include: Antigua & Barbuda; Anguilla; British Virgin Islands; Cayman; Dominica; Grenada; Jamaica; Montserrat; St. Kitts & Nevis; St. Lucia; St. Vincent & The Grenadines; Turks & Caicos Island.