Mobile Phones and Driving Safety

According to the Guardian, the Trinidad and Tobago Cabinet has endorsed amendments to the motor vehicle legislation to ban the use of mobile devices while driving.  These amendments will soon be tabled in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament.  In a post-Cabinet news conference on July 29, Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner noted that these amendments are intended to increase road safety in  Trinidad and Tobago.  Both Digicel and TSTT expressed their support for these amendments.
 
These amendments should be a no-brainer for all Caribbean nations.  Several studies have demonstrated clearly  that using a mobile device while driving a motor vehicle entails a similar risk as driving while intoxicated.  A significant number of nations have already adopted and implemented legislation to prohibit this practice.  One can only hope, therefore, that the other Caribbean nations will follow Trinidad and Tobago's lead in the near future.

When will Cable & Wireless rollout its IPTV service in the Caribbean?

Yesterday, Cable & Wireless Communications made several references to its forthcoming Caribbean IPTV rollout during the presentation of its 2009/2010 financial results. Whilst much of the discussion was focused on CWC's TV service in Panama, the rollout of TV services across the Caribbean was also mentioned on a couple of occasions, including during the Q&A's with financial analysts. It was described as one of CWC's 2010/2011 priorities on page 30 of the slides.

These comments are consistent with a press release issued last fall, in which CWC announced a partnership with U.S.-based Move Networks for a rollout of IPTV services across CWI’s global operations. Yesterday, Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT), which is owned jointly by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago and CWC, announced a similar partnership with another U.S.-based IPTV provider, Calix Inc.

Entering the Caribbean TV market will not be easy for CWC. In addition to the challenges associated with securing the intellectual property rights for popular US programming, CWC will need to convince the local population that its service is superior than the grey and black market satellite services, which are currently rampant across the Caribbean. Perhaps one way to accomplish this objective is to deliver a comprehensive list of local Caribbean TV channels and to focus on IPTV's ability to deliver advanced TV services which are not available on satellite, including interactive services, VOD services and "TV Everywhere" services.