Turks and Caicos gets new 3G operator

Residents in the Turks and Caicos Islands now have three choices of mobile telephony provider with the launch earlier this month of Islandcom Wireless, the country’s first 3G network operator. Islandcom’s range of W-CDMA-based pre- and post-paid services includes video calling and high speed internet access with international roaming. In September 2008 the company formed a partnership with Bermuda Digital Communications (BDC), a subsidiary of Atlantic Tele-Network, which provided new investment to begin building an UMTS network in March 2009. 17 3G base stations have been rolled out and by the end of the year will be expanded to 19 sites across the islands, including North Caicos, Middle Caicos, South Caicos and Grand Turk.