Telecommunications in Bermuda

Bermuda has five television stations, a small cable microwave system, two cellular services, three submarine cables, two satellite earth stations, and four Internet service providers.

Telephone

• Calling code: 1 441
• Telephones - main lines in use: 57,700 (2006)
• Telephones - mobile cellular: 60,100 (2006)
• Telephone system:
  • general assessment: good
  • domestic: fully automatic telephone system; fiber optic trunk lines
  • international: country code - 1-441; landing point for the Atlantica-1 telecommunications submarine cable that extends from the US to Brazil; satellite earth stations - 3 (2007)

Bermuda's telephone system is part of the North American Numbering Plan -- calls between Bermuda, the USA, Canada and most of the Caribbean requires the caller dialing "1", then the 3-digit area code, then the 7-digit number.

Radio

• Radio broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 7, shortwave 1 (2009)

There are four main broadcasting companies in Bermuda: LTT Broadcasting Co.Ltd(Irie), The Bermuda Broadcasting Company Ltd(ZFB/ZBM)(not to be confused with BBC London), DeFontes Broadcasting(VSB) , Inter-Island Communications Ltd, (HOTT/ Magic)

The BBC owns four with the call signs of 2 with ZFB and two with the call signs ZBM. VSB owns 4 radio stations with the VSB callsign. One of BBC's popular stations include Power 95 (94.9). It plays mostly hip hop, R&B, and reggae. It has been popular over the years, until competition from Hott 107.5] began. DeFontes' main station is Mix 106.1 (VSB-FM). The station plays a variety of music, although mostly adult contemporary and top 40.

The recent change of LTT Broadcasting's Jazz format and frequency from 98.1 to 98.3 in November 2010 to Roots and Classic Reggae (www.irie.bm) has shifted audience from Power 94.9 and Hott 107.5 to place overall second in the market in the broad 18-54 demographic based on research from Research Innovations Ltd in February 2011.

In April 2004 2 FM licenses were assigned to each Inter-Island Communications and LLT Broadcasting Co. Ltd.. Inter-Island Communications operates Hott 107.5 FM, which plays a mixture of R&B, hip hop, reggae and some gospel. Overnight Hott 107.5 FM became the number one radio station in Bermuda. The Programme Director and part owner for the station was Elroy RC Smith, formerly of WGCI-FM of Chicago, Illinois, who is widely respected as one of the top PD in America. He has since departed from the station. Inter-Island Communications Ltd. launched its Adult Contemporary station, MAGIC 102.7 FM in February, 2007.

The Government of Bermuda's Maritime Operations Centre has also set up a shortwave radio station in 2007 (call-sign: ZBR), [1]

American satellite radio is also available.

Organized by call-sign, the stations are listed below:

• 1160 VSB-3-AM
• 1280 VSB-2-AM
• 1450 VSB-1-AM (Gold AM)
• 89.9 ZBM-FM
• 94.9 ZFB-FM
• 98.3 Irie-FM)WRBF [www.irie.bm]
• 101.3assigned and on test(LTT)
• 102.7 Magic
• 106.1 VSB-FM
• 107.5 Hott 107.5 (Unofficial callsign: WHT-FM)
• 162.400 ZBR (also on shortwave)

Television

• Television broadcast stations: 3 (2011) Channels 7&9 ZBM, Channell 11 VSB

There are two main television broadcasting companies in Bermuda: (BBC, not to be confuse with the BBC in the UK) and DeFontes Broadcasting Ltd. (VSB). The Bermuda Broadcasting is a privately held corporation. The BBC owns two television stations (an ABC and a CBS affiliate) and VSB owns one television station (an NBC affiliate). All three television stations are commercial - there is no equivalent to Canada's CBC/Radio-Canada, the US's PBS, and the UK's BBC in Bermuda. Another TV station, "Fresh Creations", is a community TV station. Another channel, called Look TV, is primarily a rolling calendar of events. There is also Government information service channel which highlights history and current event programmes produced by the Governments information dept.

All five TV channels can theoretically be picked up over the air without the need of cable, but cable is actually necessary for reception purposes - without it reception of some channels like VSB in Hamilton is extremely bad. (See the "Media" section of Bermuda Online for details)

In recent years, there had been talk [2][3][4] in the Bermudian government of creating its own TV station, saying that it is needed "to speak directly to the public 'in an unmediated and unedited fashion'"[5], while critics state that it will be no more than a propaganda exercise.

Satellite television is also used, but is unreliable, as the only satellites available are those mainly servicing the United States of America, Canada and Latin America, and is on the edge of the reception area. Digital cable is available, as is wireless.

Internet

• Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 4 (2002)
• Internet hosts: 1,628 (2008)
• Internet users: 48,000 (2007)
• Country codes: .bm

The .bm code is controlled by the Bermuda Government's Department of Intellectual Property, a part of the Registry General and administered by CSSD, the government's IT support group. The .bm domains are primarily granted to Licensed Businesses. Private accounts do exist, however.

References

Much of the material in this article is adapted from the CIA World Factbook 2009.

External links

• [6] Bermuda Government's Telecommunications home page.