Paulwell wants JPS to offer broadband Internet service

[zerodeth]

Energy minister Phillip Paulwell says he wants the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) to enter the broadband Internet market.

Minister Paulwell described this as a win/win strategy for the company, saying it could recoup some of its loses from new competition. He says the existing JPS grid could also dramatically increase broadband access in several communities.

The minister says this would help to drive development and increase Jamaica's competitive edge in the market for investments. Mr Paulwell says the light and power company could provide high-speed Internet service similar to what is currently provided by Flow Jamaica.

source: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/latest/article.php?id=34730

recoup losses from new competition does that mean another power company is coming to ja????

it would be good if it worked

[khat17]

Excellent as a matter of fact. That would make me switch

[Pothole]

Though I understand your thoughts, it is not possible to make such a broad statement.

To support BPL, the powerline infrastructure needs to be in excellent condition. No broken insulators, no high resistance crimps, no rusty/corroded transformer bolts, good distributed earthing schemes. Though a lot of Kingston, and the cross-country high tension transmission plant looks in good shape, the local distribution plant would need considerable improvement in my opinion.

And to be clear, you don't just insert a carrier onto the power line at Old Harbour generating plant and tap into it at your 110volt outlet in in Mandeville, or wherever. The digital carrier has to be inserted on the 110volt side of each and every step-down transformer on every pole with transformers around the country. Not such a small task... and so the power company will act just like a telco,... targeting areas of high density housing (Kingston, Portmore and such),... and the remote communities will be addressed last. Unless the government insist they activate the smaller communities in return for incentives/subsidies,... and that is a real headache from a governance perspective.

Though it has problems most persons have JPS - people in remote bush would get broadband.

[psilos]

Powerline works fine inside a home but BPL has failed to take off as a Broadband alternative. All the initial backers have faded. It suffers from everything Pothole has mentioned above.

Wireless or Cable are the only two mediums that have potential to increase our broadband reach. DSL is and will always be limited by distance. I am not a fan of Wi-Fi as it wasn't designed with QoS in mind and tends to get overloaded with too many active users but it is affordable and can reasonably work with proper network design and a limited userbase. From a technical point of view Wimax is solid but the industry chose the newer LTE as its successor.

[KoyoteGambit]

Paulwell can talk all he wants, I doubt JPS will be going this route anytime soon, from my recollection they have the license for years and have done nothing with it. Quite frankly JPS need to focus on its core business- provide lower cost, clean and reliable electricity service to this country and upgrade their ancient power plants.

But seriously who is JPS over the years, I've lost track of the owners?

Hopefully they won't charge you for having the "potential" ability to connect to their service.....

You say it as if its a joke, but seriously, we might get a fee for being able to get the service.

[nevintech]

wont work too wel here- fluctuations in power and tief light- may only b feasible in already developed residential areas

[rudie_dukie]

JPS is making enough from robbing us on electricity so if the government force them to drop the electricity charge then probably they might enter that business

[topanaris]

Not gonna happen the existing grid wont do, it would require significant overhauling based on the little i know. What i do know is that JPS has a rather extensive wireless grid, (the even rent cell site tower space to digi). So from that aspect i could potentially see them entering the Broadband market. But something about receiving information through your socket just doesn't sit right with me.