Bmobile partners for satellite redundancy

Guardian (Trinidad and Tobago) By Peter Christopher

09 February 2025

Bmobile partners for satellite redundancy – Trinidad Guardian

 In April last year, a fibre optic break caused by a bush fire in Toco brought Tobago businesses to their knees. The break in lines caused a severe telecommunications outage on the island for eight hours, causing disruptions in ATMs, point of sales terminals, internet and all cellphone and cable services. Also degraded was the island’s emergency management service. Businesses were forced to turn away customers who did not have cash as they could not accept card payments due to the outage. In the wake of the disruption, the chairman of the Tobago arm of the T&T Chamber of Industry and Commerce, Curtis Williams, labelled the incident a national security and telecommunications disaster and he urged local telecommunications company TSTT to put something in place so that such a situation would not happen again.

He said then, “This one was the worst. Nothing worked. We heard about TSTT doing redundancy, but where is the redundancy?” Next week, the telecommunications company is set to unveil a solution to the April 2024 emergency at the Energy Conference as bmobile business has partnered with Neptune Communications, a satellite company, to provide a service which should improve business continuity and disaster recovery. “This was an excellent example. It is where you have a fibre break or fibre cut, as in Tobago. The precise reason is about business continuity.

It is to make sure that you have more than one way to get your traffic in and out of your business. And in today’s world where the internet really is powering most businesses, and if your business is not involved in using the internet, then something is wrong,” said Julian Jordan, CEO of Neptune Communications. “You need to have more than one reliable way to get your internet traffic in and out. So it is called redundancy. And so this is the perfect way to do that. It’s quite simple.” This collaboration will see bmobile business integrate Neptune’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite solutions into its network, in the process offering flexible and resilient broadband connectivity.

Neptune reportedly approached TSTT with the suggestion and as Darryl Duke, TSTT’s assistant vice president, business sales, explained the pitch was timely and welcomed. “It gives that business that extra resiliency, especially in cases of acts of God. I could share some real-life stories where, because of disasters, you have lost that traditional connectivity that is created via fibre and mobile networks. Satellite connectivity gives that extra layer of resiliency for those organisation of businesses that always have to stay connected,” he said. Duke said, “Part of our DNA is to make sure all our customers are connected all the time across the entire scope of training today. So satellite communication is one of the transformational technologies for enterprise business.

So this partnership was something from God. It is very much in line with our objective to keep our customers with the latest, greatest technology. It will integrate with our network seamlessly.” He added, “This service is complementary to other products and sales that we provide. So the outages that you refer to, which happen from time to time are due to the infrastructure cuts. The use of satellite service, is a complimentary service where you can turn it on to provide that extra connectivity if your primary service is down, it can also be used in rural areas where you may not have connectivity available.

You can turn on this service almost immediately. It is 100 per cent on all the time.” Duke also stressed the group did research on the service in terms of cybersecurity, aware that TSTT had been one of many local companies that have fallen victim to cyberattacks recently. “Based on our well-known history, bmobile has invested significantly in our cybersecurity posture. Our virtual CSO and the support group behind them will do the necessary interrogation and investigation and due diligence to ensure, before it even touches our network, that all the checks and balances are ticked at this point in time,” said Duke, “Because, cybersecurity, we may be able to reveal our blueprint for these checks, but rest assured, that is being done before any engagement has occurred.” Jordan noted that the importance of internet connectivity has become central to business globally, as he stated the service can run in tandem with or as a backup to current fibre optic infrastructure. “Our best-demonstrated practice is to make sure you have more than one way to get your traffic in and out of your business. That’s the Tobago example. You can’t just rely on one service.

If you do, you’re putting your business at risk. “And if your business needs to be online, like a point-of-sale presence, as you mentioned, you simply are risking not being able to do business. So they run in parallel, and all of the traffic that runs over our network is encrypted end to end. So in terms of cybersecurity, we will fit very tightly and neatly inside the overall protocols established by TSTT,” said. Jordan Jordan noted the service has the advantage of providing access in areas currently not served by fibre cable lines. “This one you see here (points at satellite) the kid literally is pointed up at the sky, where the satellite constellation is in orbit, and that’s where the signals get transmitted between this and the satellite in the sky. “So you do need line of sight, but if it’s mounted outside, you have that line of sight all the time,” said Jordan, “in terms of where it’s available, all of Trinidad and Tobago’s geography, it’s available right now in every single part of Trinidad and Tobago we have covered, so including coastal waters and offshore facilities and so on for the oil and gas sector.” Satellite broadband internet services are not foreign to T&T. In 2023 US company Starlink introduced a similar service in the country with residential and business packages made available.

At launch, bmobile’s service will be geared towards businesses but Duke said as the partnership with Neptune grows, consideration will be made for a residential option.

PHOTO BY ROGER JACOB– Darryl Duke, left, TSTT/bmobile business sales assistant vice president and Julian Jordan, Neptune Communications CEO, speak with Peter Christopher Guardian Media about the partnership between the two companies.