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Marty Offline OP
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At his Quarterly Press Conference today 29 April 2013 - Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced he has ordered that with effect from midnight tomorrow 30th April, government-controlled Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) shall remove any and all restrictions on Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) communications in Belize.

BTL has been ordered to allow the use of all VOIP-based applications starting on 1st May 2013.

Joined: Oct 1999
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Marty Offline OP
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At today's press conference Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that at the end of this month BTL will enable full and open access to VOIP based services and applications in Belize.

DEAN BARROW
PRIME MINISTER OF BELIZE

"And so this will mean the use of BTL's high speed internet services including DSL, wireless internet and mobile internet and will mean that there will be no restriction whatsoever, on Voice Over Internet Protocol. BTL says this will immediately allow over two hundred thousand Belizean currently with BTL's residential internet and with internet on Digicel's mobile services to gain immediate access to the many other VOIP based application and services that are not currently available. Of course, this ability to now freely access VOIP will now harness the power of the internet and allow Belizeans to enhance many facets of their lives particularly, in areas such as long distance learning with video conference capabilities; computer to computer conversations with family and friends abroad and even internet based television. Of course, this will affect BTL's revenues from its voice traffic tremendously; I think we are thinking of something like seven million dollars lost in the first year. But, government needed to keep its commitment and in any event, technology is moving so quickly that, I think we would have been playing a losing game if we had continued trying to restrict VOIP."

Prime Minister Barrow shared tourism statistics for the first three months. He said Belize continues to soar with respect to the tourism industry. The Prime Minister highlighted a number of proposed projects including the cruise facility in Southern Belize which is waiting for environmental and conservation protection clearance.

LOVEFM

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Marty Offline OP
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BTL Will No Longer Block VOIP

The other major announcement coming out of today's meeting was that BTL will no longer be blocking Voice Over Internet Protocol services. That means that internet users will be able to use SKYPE, Net2phone and, presumably, Vonage to make their long distance calls for free. It's the end of a blockage that's been going on for more than a decade - and the PM said that, it's about time:..

Hon. Dean Barrow - Prime Minister of Belize

"At the end of this month, tomorrow, BTL will enable full and open access to VOIP based services and applications in Belize. I want to recognize and pay tribute to the BTL Board of Directors - there are several members of the board present this morning; I have to single out the indefatigable 82 year old Chairman of BTL who is like the energizer bunny that keeps on going and going (Mr. Nestor Vasquez) and COO Mrs. Karen Bevans. This will mean the use of high speed internet services including DSL, wireless internet and mobile internet and will mean that there won't be any restrictions whatsoever on Voice Over Internet Protocol. This of course will affect BTL's revenues from it's voice traffic tremendously. I think we're thinking something around $7m being lost in the first year. But the government needed to keep its commitment. Technology is moving so quickly that we would have been playing a loosing game if we had continued trying to restrict VOIP."

The background to that last statement is that increasingly popular applications such as Facetime and GMAIL Talk - which could not be blocked - have made Voice and Video Over Internet a reality for some time now.

Channel 7


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Marty Offline OP
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VOIP now a reality for Belize

The legalization of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) has made the rounds from fiery debate topic to political promise at election time. VOIP allows internet users to access web-based phone services like SKYPE and Vonage to make international calls at little or no cost. It's no wonder why telecommunications provider Belize Telemedia Limited has avoided VOIP free for all which would offer competitive rates for international calls. But VOIP will be here before the end of the week. That announcement was made by P.M. Barrow at his quarterly press conference today.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

Dean Barrow

"At the end of this month, which I believe is tomorrow, B.T.L. will enable full and open access to VOIP based services and applications in Belize. This will mean the use of B.T.L.'s high speed internet service including DSL, wireless internet and mobile internet and will mean that there will be no restriction whatsoever on Voice Over Internet Protocol. B.T.L. says this will immediately allow over two hundred thousand Belizeans currently with B.T.L.'s residential internet and with internet on Digicell Mobile Services, to gain immediate access to the many other VOIP based applications and services that are not currently available. Of course this ability to now freely access VOIP will further harness the power of the internet and allow Belizeans to enhance many facets of their lives; particular in areas of long distance learning with video conferencing capabilities, computer to computer conversations with families and friends abroad and even internet based television. Now this of course will affect B.T.L.'s revenues from its voice traffic tremendously. We thinking that of seven million dollars are being lost in the first year. But government needed to keep its commitment and in any event, technology is moving so quickly that I think we would have been playing a losing game if we had continued trying to restrict VOIP."

The Prime Minister projected a loss of revenue in the sum of seven million dollars to be experience by Telemedia because of opening access to VOIP.�

Channel 5


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Years ago I called BTL as it has always been illegal to block VOIP here. Well not always but 9 yrs ago it worked. Then it was blocked, but legally it could not be blocked, even back then. My conversations with BTL back then, well they agreed it was illegal to block VOIP...but it had been blocked. Other phone calls got more confusing with BTL telling me that it was illegal for them to block VOIP, they would check into the matter. They basicly told me..IT WASNT ME!!! remember that great song. Well at best all I could do was call them liers, but we all know that gets you knowwhere. So I worked around it and got SKYPE the gringo way. This is no new order, its years old just ignored. I will believe it when I see, or hear it.


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Time to put the Witopia cloaking device back in the closet. Our Vonage is working like a champ with no VPN required. Amazing. This is great news. Thanks BTL, but as Cooper says, it is about time.

Ooops, spoke too soon. Get a dial tone and the phone rings once. Party on other end picks up phone but no voice transmission. Hopefully just one more switch to throw, have to wait till Thursday, Labor Day.

If anyone is successful with vonage please advise

Last edited by beachbumin; 05/01/13 06:21 AM.
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For those of us who use Coral Cable instead of BTL - how do we connect?


Harriette
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Marty Offline OP
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"SIGNAL BREAKTHROUGH": VOIP IN BELIZE FULLY UNBLOCKED ON APRIL 30

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype.

Chairman of Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) Net Vasquez has confirmed that the company will tomorrow open full access to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which BTL has been partially blocking from Belizean consumers. VoIP enables Internet users to talk with each other without having to pay per- minute rates applied to regular calls on cell phones and landlines.

In his first quarterly press conference for 2013 this morning, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that the state-owned company has agreed to lift the current restrictions on VoIP.

"It helps the economy when everybody has use and access to this type of communication," Vasquez told Amandala.

"At the end of this month-which I believe is tomorrow-BTL will enable full and open access to VOIP-based services and applications in Belize," Barrow told the media this morning.

He added that the development, in line with ruling United Democratic Party's (UDP's) commitment, will "immediately allow over 200,000 Belizeans to gain immediate access to many other VoIP-based applications and services not currently available."

The service will be open to all who use BTL's high speed Internet, DSL, wireless and mobile Internet services.

Barrow said that it will allow Belizeans to enhance many facets of their lives, through long-distance learning, video-conferencing, computer-computer conversations with family abroad, and Internet-based television.

BTL is giving up $7 million in revenues in the first year of unrestricted VoIP access, said Barrow.

The Prime Minister admitted, though, that the pace of communications technology has been moving so quickly, that BTL would have been playing "a losing game" had it continued trying to restrict VoIP, and the practical realities call for the liberalization of the sector.

"This is a signal breakthrough�" Barrow told the media.

Our newspaper is aware that despite the restrictions that BTL had placed on VoIP, some Belizeans had found their way around it and were still able to utilize VoIP for communications with persons both at home and overseas.

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype: provided by foreign companies that use the local network and collect from customers for it, but which, she said, don't put a penny into national development, via the payment of taxes and the provision of jobs.

Bevans admits, though, that people in Belize were still able to use Skype.

She said that the decision to open up VoIP now was in line with customer demands.

"Customers are asking for it," Bevans indicated.

The board realized that it would be best to just go with the flow and see what other strategic moves BTL can make, to move into areas of broadband stimulation, said Bevans.

She told our newspaper that the company has been looking at telecoms trends, and there is a shift taking place from voice towards data communications.

"People text more than talk," Bevans said, adding that BTL is now looking at providing more services and applications to make up for the revenue that will be lost as a result of the liberalization of VoIP.

According to Bevans, cable companies who resell BTL's Internet, which are the vast majority of them, will also automatically have VoIP services opened to their customers.

Amandala

"SIGNAL BREAKTHROUGH": VOIP IN BELIZE FULLY UNBLOCKED ON APRIL 30

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype.

Chairman of Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) Net Vasquez has confirmed that the company will tomorrow open full access to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which BTL has been partially blocking from Belizean consumers. VoIP enables Internet users to talk with each other without having to pay per- minute rates applied to regular calls on cell phones and landlines.

In his first quarterly press conference for 2013 this morning, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that the state-owned company has agreed to lift the current restrictions on VoIP.

"It helps the economy when everybody has use and access to this type of communication," Vasquez told Amandala.

"At the end of this month-which I believe is tomorrow-BTL will enable full and open access to VOIP-based services and applications in Belize," Barrow told the media this morning.

He added that the development, in line with ruling United Democratic Party's (UDP's) commitment, will "immediately allow over 200,000 Belizeans to gain immediate access to many other VoIP-based applications and services not currently available."

The service will be open to all who use BTL's high speed Internet, DSL, wireless and mobile Internet services.

Barrow said that it will allow Belizeans to enhance many facets of their lives, through long-distance learning, video-conferencing, computer-computer conversations with family abroad, and Internet-based television.

BTL is giving up $7 million in revenues in the first year of unrestricted VoIP access, said Barrow.

The Prime Minister admitted, though, that the pace of communications technology has been moving so quickly, that BTL would have been playing "a losing game" had it continued trying to restrict VoIP, and the practical realities call for the liberalization of the sector.

"This is a signal breakthrough�" Barrow told the media.

Our newspaper is aware that despite the restrictions that BTL had placed on VoIP, some Belizeans had found their way around it and were still able to utilize VoIP for communications with persons both at home and overseas.

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype: provided by foreign companies that use the local network and collect from customers for it, but which, she said, don't put a penny into national development, via the payment of taxes and the provision of jobs.

Bevans admits, though, that people in Belize were still able to use Skype.

She said that the decision to open up VoIP now was in line with customer demands.

"Customers are asking for it," Bevans indicated.

The board realized that it would be best to just go with the flow and see what other strategic moves BTL can make, to move into areas of broadband stimulation, said Bevans.

She told our newspaper that the company has been looking at telecoms trends, and there is a shift taking place from voice towards data communications.

"People text more than talk," Bevans said, adding that BTL is now looking at providing more services and applications to make up for the revenue that will be lost as a result of the liberalization of VoIP.

According to Bevans, cable companies who resell BTL's Internet, which are the vast majority of them, will also automatically have VoIP services opened to their customers.

Amandala

"SIGNAL BREAKTHROUGH": VOIP IN BELIZE FULLY UNBLOCKED ON APRIL 30

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype.

Chairman of Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) Net Vasquez has confirmed that the company will tomorrow open full access to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which BTL has been partially blocking from Belizean consumers. VoIP enables Internet users to talk with each other without having to pay per- minute rates applied to regular calls on cell phones and landlines.

In his first quarterly press conference for 2013 this morning, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that the state-owned company has agreed to lift the current restrictions on VoIP.

"It helps the economy when everybody has use and access to this type of communication," Vasquez told Amandala.

"At the end of this month-which I believe is tomorrow-BTL will enable full and open access to VOIP-based services and applications in Belize," Barrow told the media this morning.

He added that the development, in line with ruling United Democratic Party's (UDP's) commitment, will "immediately allow over 200,000 Belizeans to gain immediate access to many other VoIP-based applications and services not currently available."

The service will be open to all who use BTL's high speed Internet, DSL, wireless and mobile Internet services.

Barrow said that it will allow Belizeans to enhance many facets of their lives, through long-distance learning, video-conferencing, computer-computer conversations with family abroad, and Internet-based television.

BTL is giving up $7 million in revenues in the first year of unrestricted VoIP access, said Barrow.

The Prime Minister admitted, though, that the pace of communications technology has been moving so quickly, that BTL would have been playing "a losing game" had it continued trying to restrict VoIP, and the practical realities call for the liberalization of the sector.

"This is a signal breakthrough�" Barrow told the media.

Our newspaper is aware that despite the restrictions that BTL had placed on VoIP, some Belizeans had found their way around it and were still able to utilize VoIP for communications with persons both at home and overseas.

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype: provided by foreign companies that use the local network and collect from customers for it, but which, she said, don't put a penny into national development, via the payment of taxes and the provision of jobs.

Bevans admits, though, that people in Belize were still able to use Skype.

She said that the decision to open up VoIP now was in line with customer demands.

"Customers are asking for it," Bevans indicated.

The board realized that it would be best to just go with the flow and see what other strategic moves BTL can make, to move into areas of broadband stimulation, said Bevans.

She told our newspaper that the company has been looking at telecoms trends, and there is a shift taking place from voice towards data communications.

"People text more than talk," Bevans said, adding that BTL is now looking at providing more services and applications to make up for the revenue that will be lost as a result of the liberalization of VoIP.

According to Bevans, cable companies who resell BTL's Internet, which are the vast majority of them, will also automatically have VoIP services opened to their customers.

Amandala

"SIGNAL BREAKTHROUGH": VOIP IN BELIZE FULLY UNBLOCKED ON APRIL 30

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype.

Chairman of Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) Net Vasquez has confirmed that the company will tomorrow open full access to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which BTL has been partially blocking from Belizean consumers. VoIP enables Internet users to talk with each other without having to pay per- minute rates applied to regular calls on cell phones and landlines.

In his first quarterly press conference for 2013 this morning, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that the state-owned company has agreed to lift the current restrictions on VoIP.

"It helps the economy when everybody has use and access to this type of communication," Vasquez told Amandala.

"At the end of this month-which I believe is tomorrow-BTL will enable full and open access to VOIP-based services and applications in Belize," Barrow told the media this morning.

He added that the development, in line with ruling United Democratic Party's (UDP's) commitment, will "immediately allow over 200,000 Belizeans to gain immediate access to many other VoIP-based applications and services not currently available."

The service will be open to all who use BTL's high speed Internet, DSL, wireless and mobile Internet services.

Barrow said that it will allow Belizeans to enhance many facets of their lives, through long-distance learning, video-conferencing, computer-computer conversations with family abroad, and Internet-based television.

BTL is giving up $7 million in revenues in the first year of unrestricted VoIP access, said Barrow.

The Prime Minister admitted, though, that the pace of communications technology has been moving so quickly, that BTL would have been playing "a losing game" had it continued trying to restrict VoIP, and the practical realities call for the liberalization of the sector.

"This is a signal breakthrough�" Barrow told the media.

Our newspaper is aware that despite the restrictions that BTL had placed on VoIP, some Belizeans had found their way around it and were still able to utilize VoIP for communications with persons both at home and overseas.

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype: provided by foreign companies that use the local network and collect from customers for it, but which, she said, don't put a penny into national development, via the payment of taxes and the provision of jobs.

Bevans admits, though, that people in Belize were still able to use Skype.

She said that the decision to open up VoIP now was in line with customer demands.

"Customers are asking for it," Bevans indicated.

The board realized that it would be best to just go with the flow and see what other strategic moves BTL can make, to move into areas of broadband stimulation, said Bevans.

She told our newspaper that the company has been looking at telecoms trends, and there is a shift taking place from voice towards data communications.

"People text more than talk," Bevans said, adding that BTL is now looking at providing more services and applications to make up for the revenue that will be lost as a result of the liberalization of VoIP.

According to Bevans, cable companies who resell BTL's Internet, which are the vast majority of them, will also automatically have VoIP services opened to their customers.

Amandala

"SIGNAL BREAKTHROUGH": VOIP IN BELIZE FULLY UNBLOCKED ON APRIL 30

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype.

Chairman of Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) Net Vasquez has confirmed that the company will tomorrow open full access to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), which BTL has been partially blocking from Belizean consumers. VoIP enables Internet users to talk with each other without having to pay per- minute rates applied to regular calls on cell phones and landlines.

In his first quarterly press conference for 2013 this morning, Prime Minister Dean Barrow announced that the state-owned company has agreed to lift the current restrictions on VoIP.

"It helps the economy when everybody has use and access to this type of communication," Vasquez told Amandala.

"At the end of this month-which I believe is tomorrow-BTL will enable full and open access to VOIP-based services and applications in Belize," Barrow told the media this morning.

He added that the development, in line with ruling United Democratic Party's (UDP's) commitment, will "immediately allow over 200,000 Belizeans to gain immediate access to many other VoIP-based applications and services not currently available."

The service will be open to all who use BTL's high speed Internet, DSL, wireless and mobile Internet services.

Barrow said that it will allow Belizeans to enhance many facets of their lives, through long-distance learning, video-conferencing, computer-computer conversations with family abroad, and Internet-based television.

BTL is giving up $7 million in revenues in the first year of unrestricted VoIP access, said Barrow.

The Prime Minister admitted, though, that the pace of communications technology has been moving so quickly, that BTL would have been playing "a losing game" had it continued trying to restrict VoIP, and the practical realities call for the liberalization of the sector.

"This is a signal breakthrough�" Barrow told the media.

Our newspaper is aware that despite the restrictions that BTL had placed on VoIP, some Belizeans had found their way around it and were still able to utilize VoIP for communications with persons both at home and overseas.

Karen Bevans, Chief Operations Officer, told Amandala that BTL was already allowing some level of VoIP via "WhatsApp," "Yahoo Messenger," "Face Time" and other such applications. However, she said, the main concerns were Vonage and Skype: provided by foreign companies that use the local network and collect from customers for it, but which, she said, don't put a penny into national development, via the payment of taxes and the provision of jobs.

Bevans admits, though, that people in Belize were still able to use Skype.

She said that the decision to open up VoIP now was in line with customer demands.

"Customers are asking for it," Bevans indicated.

The board realized that it would be best to just go with the flow and see what other strategic moves BTL can make, to move into areas of broadband stimulation, said Bevans.

She told our newspaper that the company has been looking at telecoms trends, and there is a shift taking place from voice towards data communications.

"People text more than talk," Bevans said, adding that BTL is now looking at providing more services and applications to make up for the revenue that will be lost as a result of the liberalization of VoIP.

According to Bevans, cable companies who resell BTL's Internet, which are the vast majority of them, will also automatically have VoIP services opened to their customers.

Amandala


Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 6,267
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Originally Posted by ScubaLdy
For those of us who use Coral Cable instead of BTL - how do we connect?


Harriette - Coral Cable is selling you BTL service . Coral Cable buys a certain amount of service from BTL and redistributes it on their cable network.
I'd expect you to have full access to VOIP via Coral. The quality might not be as good as BTL's due to the way internet is redistributed. Give it a try and report the results ?

BTL had an incentive to block VOIP - to force us to use the phone for long distance, therefore driving up BTL revenues. Now, as a government-owned utility they seem to have come to their senses and put the good of the country over the short-term goal of sales revenue at BTL. This move is excellent news for the country.

Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 6,267
Offline
PS - a little quote from the article that should further clarify what you can expect from your Coral Cable internet:

"According to Bevans, cable companies who resell BTL's Internet, which are the vast majority of them, will also automatically have VoIP services opened to their customers."



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