Horizon Communications’ founder Gilbert Darrell is “elated” at the level of support his company is getting after the soft launch of its initial coin offering.

The Bermudian-based start-up, which aims to provide a wireless internet service to customers in Bermuda and eventually, elsewhere in the Caribbean region, is looking to raise $50 million through sale of its crypto token, HRZN.

Investors can buy the tokens with cryptocurrencies, such as ethereum or bitcoin.

Mr Darrell said the ICO was going well and attracting “a number of purchases every day”. He said the company intends to begin installations before the end of the year.

“I’m quite elated really at the level of support we are getting both in Bermuda and internationally,” Mr Darrell said. “We hit a few technical snags that delayed us a bit, but as anyone who’s ever been in business will tell you, no matter how hard you work to hit deadlines sometimes things are out of your control.

“We aim to sell the ‘presale’ within a few months, which puts us on track with many other successful ICOs. Everything is going great, so now we will start to ramp up our marketing of the ICO to the various outlets and the crypto community in general.”

The presale, which will involve 10 per cent of the total 100 million tokens the company intends to distribute, is offering investors a 60 per cent bonus on token purchases.

Local investors are participating already — a small number, Mr Darrell said, but their contributions have been “surprising and quite significant”.

“I certainly wasn’t expecting that level of buy-in — however I am a very strong proponent of local companies being supported by fellow Bermudians,” Mr Darrell, a member of the Bermuda Government’s Cryptocurrency Task Force, said.

“When my grandfather, Gilbert O. Darrell, started Bermuda Container Line, he, alongside Fernance Perry and William Brewer, gathered the support they needed from the community to get off the ground, or more to the point, on the water.

“I feel we’ve lost a bit of that ‘community spirit’ over the past many years, I’m glad its starting to come back.”

Buying HRZN tokens will be the only way people can use services on Horizon’s network, but for those who are not “crypto-savvy”, the company will aim to make this straightforward, with payments in regular dollars made for services being exchanged for the token.

“It doesn’t mean anything for the customer, but for people with the HRZN token they will see even greater value as it will be underpinned by the growth and strength of our customer base and network,” Mr Darrell said.

The Regulatory Authority of Bermuda, which oversees the telecommunications sector confirmed last Friday that Horizon does not have the Integrated Communications Operating Licence or a spectrum licence from RAB that it would need to offer the internet service. It added there was also a moratorium on awarding new ICOLs.

Mr Darrell is confident that this will not be a barrier to Horizon’s plans.

“We have at present a signed agreement with a licence holder and we’ve been approached by other companies, who are single-service companies, only providing one service, who realise the disruption that having such an advanced company as Horizon means to the marketplace.

“We’ve also been approached by other companies in the Caribbean who realise that if we enter the market they have a limited runway.

“While we are under confidential talks, Horizon has been approached by other countries in the Caribbean to also start up our services there as well, so I think we’ll be looking to expand as quickly as possible to other markets.”

Mr Darrell said that four years ago, licences had been granted to all incumbents in the island’s telecoms sector.

“I imagine that the purpose for licences was to impart a level of regulation on the telecommunications industry,” he added. “However placing a moratorium on licences, coupled with the mass buyouts and consolidations, along with little to no penalties when we have substandard internet, leaves telecommunications in Bermuda lacking.

“The RAB recently released a statement that shows, in my opinion, they clearly understand the telecommunication landscape in Bermuda is far from ideal. I look forward to working with the RAB to help improve that situation.”

Horizon intends to use fixed wireless technology that is already in use in other parts of the world, utilising established telecommunications towers on the island, with customers receiving the signal through a receiver unit at their home. The firm believes it can launch with speeds of 300 Mbps.

We are aiming for the third or fourth quarter to begin to install customers,” Mr Darrell said. “As we progress in the ICO, which is still early stages, we will be getting resources in place as quickly as possible.

“A great advantage of our business and technology is we are able to roll out services quite quickly compared to stringing hundreds of miles of cable everywhere.”

• For more information, visit Horizon’s website at https://horizoncomm.co