TSTT ready for 5G, says CEO

TSTT is ready to give the nation 5G.

This is the view of CEO Ronald Walcott, who spoke with Newsday on Friday, shortly after a presentation at the Institute of Chartered Accountants (ICATT)’s 50th-anniversary conference at the Hyatt Regency.

Walcott said the technology is available for TSTT to upgrade its fixed wireless access network from 4G to 5G and it is launching a"proof of concept " to show its upgrades will provide people with a proper 5G wireless signal. The proof of concept could be launched from as early as next month.

This means people all over TT could have access to 5G wireless networks from as early as this time next year, Walcott said.

“Imagine, for example, that you won’t have to walk around with cash as it is in a lot of countries. So if you are a snow cone vendor or a doubles vendor, you could be paid by just touching phones. That person would have access to broadband all day, every day, without it costing him any significant amount of money. So he is connected.

“The whole idea is creating a connected, intelligent world so everything – not just people, everything – is connected. These things are not far-fetched. These are not things that could happen tomorrow, they can happen today.”

Walcott said since 2016, TSTT has been working toward transforming itself from a telecommunications company to an agile broadband communication company, building its infrastructure to the point where it is 5G-upgradable.

“It’s ready. We’ve tested it. We’re ready.”

Walcott made a distinction between fixed wireless access networks and mobile networks, when it came to 5G.

For a fixed wireless access network, broadband signals would be shared through antennae giving people 5G internet access: 5G networks offer an alternative to broadband and fibre optic networks and would give access to a greater density of users without causing interference. Wireless signals would be better able to pass through dense objects without degradation of the signal, which could be compared to that of fiber optic networks.

The same could be said for mobile 5G networks,except that the signal would be provided by a mobile provider and that will come at a cost.

Plus, Walcott agreed with several other tech and business leaders that TT is not yet ready for mobile 5G.

“On a worldwide scale, that is still being worked on,” Walcott said. “What is more advanced is the fixed wireless access network, and what I don’t think people are aware of is that TSTT has the only fixed wireless access network.

“We developed a national broadband plan. Our mantra is, everyone should have affordable high-speed broadband. And that is what we are doing.”

In his address at the Hyatt, Walcott said the infrastructure is available for TT to move into the fourth industrial revolution. The foundation of that revolution would be broadband networks.

“ We have a mobile network which covers 95 per cent of TT with 4G. And we have the infrastructure, we have the cloud computing. etc..What is now required is us as business leaders to begin to move the country and the economy in that space, and that is where the digital transformation has to come in.

"But we at TSTT – we are ready.”