By Zoila Palma: Belize’s leading telecommunications provider, Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) uses Chinese technology.
As part of major network upgrades in 2016, BTL began deploying Chinese-sourced tech.
BTL partnered with Chinese telecom giant Huawei to roll out its nationwide 4G LTE mobile network, with equipment and services supplied by Huawei.
In 2017, BTL worked with Huawei Marine to install the Strategic Evolution Underwater Link (SEUL) fiber-optic submarine cable connecting the mainland to San Pedro, further embedding Chinese technology into Belize’s telecom infrastructure.
Huawei, a Chinese telecommunications giant widely viewed by Western governments as closely aligned with the Chinese state has partnerships with companies across the Americas.
A 2024 editorial by the Andres Bello Investigation center on China- Latin American ties listed this partnership between BTL and Huawei as one of the ways that Huawei actively leverages China’s foreign policy and diplomatic ties in Latin America and the Caribbean to attract customers and gain market share.
Customers in Latin America, particularly service providers, tend to have a positive view of the company. Local employees, however, seem to prefer working for Huawei’s competitors due to their better working conditions.
The editorial noted that “partly due to the close ties between Caracas and Beijing, in 2016, Belize’s state-owned telecommunications provider, Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL), operating under the Digi brand, partnered with Huawei to deploy a nationwide 4G LTE network. Digi became the country’s sole 4G provider, offering speeds and quality superior to those in other Caribbean and Central American countries.”
“Why did they do it? In my opinion, thanks to the socialist government. Belize was heavily allied with the Venezuelan government, to the point that a Petrocaribe office [the Chávez-era program through which Venezuela supplied oil to Caribbean nations at discounted prices] was somehow involved,” one of the interviewee explained.
The 4G LTE project was part of a $100 million capital investment plan by BTL in partnership with Huawei to modernize Belize’s fixed and mobile broadband infrastructure.
The Andres Bello Investigation center noted that the Chinese government plays a role similar to that of an international lobbying firm, seeking to promote Chinese industries through government-to-government relations, especially those industries considered strategically important to China.
Breaking Belize News journalist Zoila Palma interviewed Belizean academic Dr. Dorian Barrow to examine Chinese assets in Belize and China’s expanding footprint.
“My position is that Belize is a Western country, it has its cultural moorings deeply embedded in the Western cultural system and its economic moorings well anchored in the Western Economic system. I am concerned about the geopolitical activities that are happening now where we are operating a multi-polar world.
We need to get investments from wherever we can get investments but we have to also at the same time consider what are the geopolitical significance of these investments.
For example, our telecommunications system right now is being operated by technologies that has been developed and headquartered in China. These are sophisticated technologies. They have been proven to be good technologies. They are sold at competitive prices even lower prices than in other places but what this does is it creates a dependence on the Chinese.
Right now, there is not a difficulty in terms of accessing the technology but what would happen if there was a situation where accessing the important supporting technologies that we need because of geopolitical situation, we can’t access that?” Dr. Barrow explained.
“I think that we have to be very careful in how we do business with these global superpowers,” Dr. Barrow added.
His editorial “Chinese Assets in Belize” noted that “Unlike other partners, China is often described as the “silent partner,” present but not always loudly announced. Chinese involvement appears most visible in communication technologies, wholesale and retail merchandising, and food distribution.”
But, reliance on any foreign technology for critical infrastructure carries real risks since sanctions, diplomatic pressure, or geopolitical conflict could disrupt supply chains or force Belize into difficult choices—outcomes already seen globally.
The post Behind the network: Belize Telemedia Limited and Chinese technology appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
By Zoila Palma: Belize’s leading telecommunications provider, Belize Telemedia Limited (BTL) uses Chinese technology. As part of major network upgrades in 2016, BTL began deploying Chinese-sourced tech. BTL partnered with Chinese telecom giant Huawei to roll out its nationwide 4G LTE mobile network, with equipment and services supplied by Huawei. In 2017, BTL worked with
The post Behind the network: Belize Telemedia Limited and Chinese technology appeared first on Belize News and Opinion on www.breakingbelizenews.com.
