How Caricel's US$100 million 4G LTE using White Space and Chinese Investors come August 2016

 “Jamaicans will enjoy a coverage never seen before as we will employ the latest long-term evolution (LTE) 4G technology to focus on moving data”

Caricel’s unofficial spokesman, explaining to the Jamaica Gleaner what Caricel plans to launching by August 2016.

Looks like 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) will be coming in August 2016. More interestingly, it will not be launched by Telecom Providers Digicel or FLOW Jamaica.

Instead, Symbiote Investments Limited, using the brand name Caricel, may be launching 4G LTE by August 2016 as reported in the article “Caricel — first Jamaican company to get mobile spectrum licence”, published Sunday, May 22, 2016 by Balford Henry, The Jamaica Observer.

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr Andrew Wheatley was quite pleased while he announced the coming of Caricel on Monday May 16^th 2016, as it would bring much needed competition to Jamaica, quote: “In light of the merger between Cable and Wireless and Columbus Communications, and soon Liberty Global, I take the opportunity to once again welcome tripartite competition to the mobile telecoms sector, as the increased choice will empower the consumer and force greater innovation from the sector”.

Symbiote Investments Limited is in the process of procuring US$20,833,332 (JA$2.6 billion) for two (2) licenses, a Carrier License and a Service Provider License they've been testing out since 2014 as reported in my blog article entitled “How JA$6.2 billion Symbiote Investments Limited Spectrum may be Chinese-Jamaican Telecom Provider”. 

Already, FLOW Jamaica, who have now reached the 1,000,000 mark, has also dropped their latest FAM (Free Anywhere Minutes) that makes it possible for you to make local calls as well as international calls to USA, Canada and UK for 99 cents as detailed in my Geezam blog article entitled “How Flow Jamaica celebrated 1 million customers with a 99 cents FAM Plan”.

Coincidentally, Digicel and Huawei have begun testing a super fast fiber optic technology known as XG-PON (10Gbps Passive Optical Network), which has maximum theoretical speeds of 10 Gbps as reported in the article “Digicel And Huawei Technologies Successfully Test 10 Gbps Broadband In Jamaica”, published May 20, 2016 by Digicel Group, PRNewswire.

 

A potential upgrade to their FTTH Network to which FLOW Jamaica needs to match in terms of an Upgrade as described in my blog article entitled “Why FLOW Jamaica's 4G LTE Upgrade to counter Digicel Play needs islandwide LTE, VDSL and DOCSIS 3.1”, the test conducted in Digicel's lab in downtown Kingston  may herald speeds matching those of Korea and Singapore.

Albeit possibly mere coincidence, the coincidence is still ominous; FLOW Jamaica and Digicel Jamaica are both firing warning shots in preparation for anything from Caricel.

So how far advanced is Caricel that they can launch in weeks, possibly by August 2016?

Caricel to launch in August 2016 - Slow rollout in Portmore and Kingston and St. Andrew

Meanwhile I've not seen or heard of much significant tower construction activity in Portmore and Kingston and St. Andrew.

Despite this, the un-official spokesperson who spoke to the Jamaica Gleaner, not only revealed that they're launching 4G LTE as reported in the article “Three-Way Cell War ...As New Phone Company Vows To Fight Flow And Digicel With Price And Service Quality”, Published Sunday May 22, 2016 by Arthur Hall, The Jamaica Gleaner, he also dropped more interesting stuff about the Network.

The Caricel spokespersons claims that they'll initially be rolling out a 4G LTE Network in Portmore and Kingston and St. Andrew in the next three (3) years, quote: “We are ready to roll out and have conducted our tests. We have already invested US$50 million and expect to invest another US$50 million over the next three years while providing hundreds of jobs and business opportunities for Jamaicans”.

Good to note that at a total of US$100 million, this must be a very small Network and indicates a very slow rollout. Then again, to go islandwide would require at least US$500 million, which Symbiote Investments Limited probably doesn’t have at this moment.

However, their principal investors appear to be Jamaicans living in the diaspora, so securing additional VC (Venture Capital) funding may not be an issue for them, to quote the spokesman: “We have persons here and overseas who have already expressed an interest in investing in the company and the local financial institutions have been very helpful”.

 This would make them quite capable of paying for their Carrier License and a Service Provider License for such a small 4G LTE Network, which may just simply be a sandbox to test out the technology, according to quote the spokesperson: “We have agreed a payment plan with the Government and as soon as we get the official letter confirming that we have been granted a licence we will make the initial deposit of US$4 million within the 30 days allowed”.

So who are these mysterious investors?

Chinese Investors in Caricel – 4G LTE Ambitions possibly powered by Dekal Wireless Principals

A lot of local investors are also involved.

My suspicion is that they may be mainly Chinese businessmen as I'd predicted in my Geezam blog article entitled “How Chinese White Space Network possible in Jamaica by Independence Day”. In fact, my thinking is that Caricel is a Jamaican company with Chinese investors, both local and international.

According to my sources, they may be the same Chinese investors pumping money into CellOne in Bermuda and GTT in Guyana as opined in my Geezam blog article entitled “Digicel and GTT 80 Mbps 4G LTE in Guyana hints at August 2016 Launch in Jamaica”.

Caricel may also be a replacement to Dekal Wireless, seeing as testing on the Network began two (2) years ago, around the same time that FLOW Jamaica had purchased in December 2014 as reported in the article “LIME to take over operations of DEKAL Wireless”, published Tuesday, December 09, 2014, The Jamaica Observer. 

Chinese Investors in Caricel - White Space spectrum may power Caricel's 4G LTE ambitions

The spokespersons didn't reveal what spectrum band Caricel was using or how the backhaul transmission to the cell towers was being provisioned. This is of interest to many Telecom Engineers, being as Digicel is using the 700 MHz Band and FLOW Jamaica has been assigned the 1900 MHz and the 2100 MHz band for their 4G LTE rollout as explained in my blog article entitled “LIME and Digicel have purchase AWS and 700 MHZ Spectrum for 4G LTE”. 

For this reason, I'm betting that the 4G LTE Spectrum being used is based on the available White Space Spectrum which had been tested by Microsoft as detailed in my blog article entitled “How White Space Testing by Microsoft at Park Hall Primary and Infant School heralds 80 MBps Competition in Jamaica”. 

It's free, plentiful and has less attenuation than even Digicel's 700 MHz spectrum for their 4G LTE Network. Whatever spectrum they deploy, Caricel has already shaken up Digicel and FLOW Jamaica with their plans to offer faster Wireless Broadband and high quality affordable smartphones.

Here’s the link:

Symbiote Investments Limited

4 Eastwood Avenue,

Kingston 10

Tel: 876-614-4444

Website: http://www.caricel.net

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaricelJamaica: @Cariceljamaica

Caricel Jamaica Facebook Page

How US$24 million in Jamaican Agricultural Exports Lost and Why Agricultural Towers are Necessary

“It is somewhat underutilised right now; there is the capacity for a lot more traffic to go through those pre-clearance centres”

US agricultural attache to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, Morgan Perkins lamenting Jamaican Farmers not exporting more crops

Jamaican Farmers, listen up as this article is all about you.

Jamaican farmer are failing to produce crops for export despite having receive clearance to do so as reported in the article “Farmers Flunking ... Failing To Fill US Demand For Tomatoes, Sweet Pepper, Cucumber And Other Produce”, Published Sunday May 22, 2016  by Ryon Jones, The Jamaica Gleaner. 

So says the US agricultural attache to the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica, Morgan Perkins, who states that Jamaican farmers are missing out on a US$24 million worth Organic Foods Market.

Jamaica, through a MOU (memorandum of understanding) between the JAS (Jamaica Agricultural Society) and the NACE (National Association of Christian Educators) has preclearance to export 50 commodities to the United States.

Despite this, Jamaica is still failing to meet the demand for these agricultural products:

1.      Bell peppers

2.      Cabbage

3.      Carrots

4.      Chinese melons

5.      Chinese okras

6.      Corn

7.      Cucumber

8.      Cucumbers

9.      Eggplants

10.  Irish potatoes

11.  Okra

12.  Onions

13.  Squash

14.  String beans

15.  Sweet peppers

16.  Sweet potatoes

17.  Tomatoes

18.  Turnip green

This has resulted in a loss of revenue to the country. Worse, Jamaica has a US Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Plant Protection and Quarantine, Preclearance Offshore Programs at the Norman Manley and Donald Sangster international airports.

So having your agricultural products inspected before leaving the island is a fairly easy process, making it less of a hassle as you know right then and there if your produce will be accepted, to quote Mr. Morgan Perkins:  “There are actual USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) personnel at these preclearance centre who are supervising inspection and fumigation of agricultural products for shipment to the United States. This ensures that products arrive in the US they are going to go through inspection much more quickly and going to encounter much less problems with pest and diseases”.

So what's the cause of the short supply?

Improving Jamaica's Agriculture - How Agricultural Towers use Landspace more efficient in the City

It seems to be a matter of quality and quantity to quote Mr. Perkins: “The products on that list that are not going to the US are generally not going because they are not being produced in the quantity and quality that need to be produced in order to go to the US. There is a lot of demand for those products. So if you have a good-quality product, you can easily get it into the big wholesale markets and it will be just swallowed right up”.

Dominica seems to have the right attitude; they're exporting million of dollars worth of produce, filing demand and displacing the millions that Jamaica can potentially supply if our farming was more structured. This as Dominica has learned to capitalize on America's harsh winters, when production levels are lower, thus providing ready market for whatever they produce at whatever price.

Drought is no longer an issue as with the increased rains and proper water resources management, we can even grow onions as explained in my blog article entitled “Why Onion Development Programme by Agriculture Ministry hints at Drought Resistant Crops in the Future”.

The use of Agricultural Towers to allow plants to grow 24/7 hydroponically and utilize aquaponics to fertilize the plants in a climate controlled environment should be considered as explained in my blog article entitled “How IGES Canada Ltd Vertical Hydroponic Aquaponic Towers make low cost Organic foods”. 

Rainwater Harvesting would make it possible for Agricultural towers to capture rainwater for irrigation as noted in my blog article entitled “How NWC’s Water Conservation in Drought 2016 means Rainwater Harvesting with Digital Meters”.

Developing plants that require less water or even seawater such as CARDI's Salt water loving Dasheen as explained in my blog article entitled “How CARDI's Salt Water loving Dasheen and Agricultural Towers can help Pacific islands and Jamaica during Drought” would make Jamaican agriculture efficient enough to produce the quality and quantity for the entire island and for export.

Being as our farming is mostly organic, recycling organic waste would make farming more economically feasible as noted in my blog article entitled “Why Knockalva Enterprises Limited can solve Jamaica's Organic Waste, Bio-Fuel and Water Problem”.

Agricultural towers would make it possible to have hundreds of acres growing produce but stacked vertically instead of spreading outward, wasting land space already being wasted on burying Jamaicans as noted in my blog article entitled  “Jamaica running out of Burial Space - How to recycle the Dead as land for Agriculture and Housing”. 

The future of Jamaican Farming lies in Agricultural Towers, which are more efficient in using land.

How University of Adelaide discovered Cepholopods are increasing and Calamari will be popular

“I don’t think it’s any one single factor. But something’s changing on quite a large scale that’s giving cephalopods an edge”

Dr. Zoë Doubleday from the University of Adelaide commenting on the rise of the octopii

Octopii or octopuses, whichever you're comfortable with, are on the rise.

So says research from Dr. Zoë Doubleday and her team from the Environmental Institute at the University of Adelaide as reported in the article “Swarms of Octopus Are Taking Over the Oceans”, published 24 May 2016 by Maddie Stone, Gizmodo. 

Their analysis, which was published in the journal Current Biology indicates that cephalopods have increased in numbers across the world's oceans since the 1950s. Cephalopods are multi-tentacles creatures that include:

1.      Squids

2.      Octopuses

3.      Cuttlefish

Cephalopods are prone to sudden increase and decreases in their population. Based on a sudden decrease in the number of giant Australian cuttlefish, her co-author suggested that they looked into the population of cephalopods across the world to see if they could spot a pattern.

So they pulled up data for the population of thirty five (35) species or genera of cephalopods across all major ocean regions from 1953 to 2013. Albeit many of the cephalopods have been in a state of flux, overall, their population has been increase, if you look at the overall data.

So are the octopus planning a mass attack on humanity these past sixty (60) plus years?

Cephalopods experiencing boom time - Kill and Kill Again, Octopussy style.

Reason for their increase are varied. One theory posits that increased overfishing has killed off the natural predators that would normally eat these cephalopods. Thus they've begun to reproduce unchecked.

Another possibility is that global warming may be benefitting them somehow, making them reproduce more as postulated in the article “World octopus and squid populations are booming”, published May. 23, 2016 by Patrick Monahan, Science Mag.

This is unlikely, as these boneless cephalopods do not like acidic water. Increased global warming is cause by Carbon Dioxide (CO₂), which dissolves into the seawater, making it more acidic. However, rising sea temperatures may hasten their reproduction and they may even adapt to the increasing level of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) and increasing ocean acidity.

Whatever the reason, this means more of them for us humans to eat, albeit these highly cannibalistic “weed of the sea” often eat themselves when in excess until only the optimus octopii remains, Kill and Kill Again Style.

Calamari, anyone!?  

How Increased Motor Vehicle Importation related to Americans dodging FATCA

“The completion of our state-of-the-art Total Logistics Facility; world-class information technology infrastructure; enhanced cost management; and the commitment of our team and stakeholders will allow us to maintain our position as the leading multipurpose and multi-user terminal in the Caribbean”

Kingston Wharves Limited Chairman Jeffrey Hall commenting on their Earnings for the First Quarter of 2016

Jamaicans, it seems, are buying more motor vehicles.

This has resulted in motor vehicle imports to Jamaica increasing by some 20% as reported in the article “Car Imports Spike, Kingston Wharves Gears Up For More Business”, Published Friday May 20, 2016, by Steven Jackson, The Jamaica Gleaner.

To be exact, Kingston Wharves Limited saw the following increases in Motor vehicle imports in the Q1 of 2016:

1.      20% increase in Domestic container unit volumes

2.      20% increase in trans-shipment motor unit volumes

3.      64% increase in domestic motor units

Kingston Wharves Limited is the direct beneficiary of this increase in motor vehicle importation activity as evidence from their earnings:

1.         JA$3.3 billion in earnings year-on-year in 2015

2.         JA$560 million in earnings year-on-year in 2014

Kingston Wharves earnings for January 2016 reflect just two (2) key operating units:

1.      Terminal operations

2.      Logistics and ancillary services

The earnings for Q1 2016 from these two (2) units are as follows:

1.      JA$943 million for Terminal operations

2.      JA$257 million for Logistics and ancillary services

In summary, the increasing in port activity for Q1 2016 resulted in the following overall revenues:

1.      JA$1.2 billion revenue

2.      JAS$279.8 million profit

This represents 49% higher profit for Q1 2016 when compared to Q1 2015.

So why is motor vehicle importation on the rise?

Increase Vehicle purchases - American Tax dodgers hiding form Uncle Sam

Port activity gives a glimpse into Jamaica's consumption patterns. It indicates that despite the economic climate in Jamaica and the relatively high cost of fuel, there are Jamaicans with money to purchase and maintain motor vehicles.

This is evidenced from companies such as Magna Motors Dealership Ltd opening up yet another Hyundai dealership at the famed 27 Old Hope Road, St Andrew location as reported in “New Car Hub Above Cross Roads”, Published Sunday May 8, 2016, by Mel Cooke, The Jamaica Gleaner.

This location was the source of much controversy with protestors showing up at the location during its launch on Wednesday April 27 2016 as noted in the article “Hyundai Adds To Kingston Presence”, Published May 1, 2016, by Mel Cooke, The Jamaica Gleaner.

Most Jamaicans haven't gotten a pay increase in quite awhile. They mostly live on a combination of Remittances as well as money borrowed from money lenders. Remittances is a US$2 billion a year activity in Jamaica as noted in my blog article entitled “World Bank's Global Remittance Slowdown - Why Jamaica's Remittance will slow in 2016 as Saudi Arabia Runs out of US Dollars”. 

The gap in spending in made up with money from micro-lending, which is being associated with an increase risk of CVD (Cardio-Vascular disease) due to increase fast food consumption as explained in my blog article entitled “How UWI and FSU study of JNBS micro-credit Database indicates CVD's increase in Jamaica”.

None of these additional sources of revenue account for the purchase of new motor vehicles. Hence those purchasing those vehicles must be people with extraordinarily high taste and possibly foreigners. My theory is that many of these vehicle purchases may not just be returning residents purchasing their dream vehicle.

Rather they are being purchased by Americans trying to dodge FATCA and the long arm of the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) by becoming Jamaicans as explained in my blog article entitled “How Americans becoming Jamaican citizens can evade IRS and FATCA Taxation”.

Kingston Wharves Limited, expecting more motor vehicle importation, has beefed up their multi-stage upgrade programme, spending another JA$77 million. Growth from increase motor vehicle importation is expected, to quote Kingston Wharves Limited: “Kingston Wharves anticipates continued growth in this key segment for the remainder of 2016 as we perfect both our business development and marketing strategies and continue to gain greater operational efficiencies”.

So Americans are coming to Jamaica in droves, using lawyers to purchase land, houses, set up businesses and yes, purchase high-end motor vehicles, all in a bid to avoid paying taxes to Uncle Sam. Even more interesting is that investment in businesses here in Jamaica may be related to these American tax-dodgers move to change their citizen ship to avoid the long arm of the IRS.

More on that in another article tracking the Americans coming to Jamaica to dodge the IRS!

How Samsung's HUD display tech marks Mutually Assured Destruction of Larger Screen Devices

Samsung has finally developed a tech that will make smartwatches more practical.

The company filed a patent with the US Patent Office for a HUD display tech that can be used on smarrwatches as well as in AR (Augmented Reality) and VR (Virtual Reality) headsets as explained in the article “Samsung's Next Smartwatch Could Put The Display On Your Hand”, published MAY 15, 2016 by Paul Lamkin, Forbes. 

Invented by Ji-Huan Woo and Won-hee Choe of Samsung Electronics Limited, the scope of their idea is quite breathtaking. The US Patent US20160127624 which was filed on Thursday May 5^th 2016, basically describes a system that allow devices such as smartwatches and VR headsets to project a larger display of information onto a surface of the back of their hand or surface up to your elbow.

If the device is a pair of VR goggles, it will project a larger display of information within the field of view of the wearer of the VR goggles or onto flat surfaces like doors or walls.

The patent describes this projection technology as consisting of the following components:

1. Image Projector
2. Processor
3. Camera

The Camera detects the distance and colour of the surface. The Processor then adjusts how the Image Projector projects the image onto the surface according to the nature of the surface.

Interestingly, the camera also tracks any interaction with the image making this a kind of Gesture control technology that seems to work a lot like Microsoft PixelSense as described in the article “PixelSense: The not-so-secret advantage of the Microsoft Surface tablet”, published June 23, 2012 By Rob Enderle, Digitaltrends.

So will Samsung make this US Patent a reality?

Samsung's HUD Projection Tech - Mutually Assured Destruction of Large Screen Device

Despite what the news media says, expect to see this tech by 2020 or sooner being used in the Samsung Gear S2 smartwatches as described in my Geezam blog article “Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 has Tizen OS powered Samsung Pay Winning Potential”. 

I'd especially love to see it being used in the Samsung Gear VR as described in “Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 has Tizen OS powered Samsung Pay Winning Potential” as it would make gadget a more serious VR gaming contender.

More importantly, it can result in smart devices such as Tablets and phablets becoming smaller, especially if persons use this technology on these devices as is Samsung's intention.

Users will realize that once you have the HUD projection display on smartwatches and VR products such as Samsung's Gear Blink as described in my blog article entitled “How Samsung Gear Blink Contact Lenses will beat Virtual Reality by curing Blindness” there is no need to have a large screen device.

Already, the lack of any Tablet updates at MWC (Mobile World Congress) 2016 as opined in my blog article entitled “Why Tablets missing from MWC 2016 as Tablet Extinction and smartphone VR cometh” and in the First Quarter of 2016 suggests Tablets are dying as phablets and smartwatches are killing them off.

Throw in the developement of e-SIM now being supported by the GSMA (Global Systems Mobile Association) as described in my blog article entitled “How GSMA's eSIM heralds SIM-Less Smartwatches from Samsung, LG, Microsoft and Huawei” and it will become readily apparent that you do not need to have a large screen for a smartphone, Tablet or even a Laptop.

All these developments would effectively mark the beginning of the extinction of large screen devices as I've long predicted in my blog article entitled “Google Glass Designer Isabelle Olsson Leopard frames on Google Glass - Smart + Sexy = Smexy Tablet and smartphone”. 

This HUD projection tech form Samsung makes having a large screen obsolete; all you need is specially designed surface, glasses and better batteries.