Blogs

Caribbean region aims for broadband revolution

Posted by CaribShout on September 2, 2009 at 10:00pm

A 2009 World Bank report has said that access to affordable high-speed Internet and mobile phone service is key to economic growth and job creation in developing countries. And the Bank has offered to help the Caribbean improve information and telecommunications infrastructure. The Bank supports information and communications technology (ICT) projects in more than 100 countries with a portfolio of more than $3billion. Telecoms specialist Juan Navas-Sabater told BBC Caribbean that the Bank had written to governments in the region with funding proposals. The focus is aimed at high speed broadband services, where the region is lagging. The Bank's Information and Communications for Development report found that Internet users in developing countries increased tenfold between 2000 to 2007. There are now over four billion mobile phone subscribers in developing countries. This expansion was mirrored in the Caribbean where telecoms has become a major growth area, particularly in the mobile sector. Liberalisation In the Caribbean, mobile usage was, on average, 70% in 2007 - well above the world average of 58 %. Though that figure has surely risen since then. Some countries, like Jamaica and Antigua and Barbuda, had passed the 100% penetration threshold even then - though this does not technically mean that everybody owned a cellular phone, just widespread adoption of the technology. Mr Navas-Sabater said the expansion in the sector was testimony to the great effort at liberalisation that gathered pace the 1990s. Yet there is a downside - internet penetration in the Caribbean is just 5% - way below what's required. Unlike mobile phones, personal computers are often too costly for many households in developing countries. Because mobile subscriptions are set to see much slower growth rates, operators, both in the fixed-line and mobile sector, are looking to broadband as the next area of real growth. Operators are expanding their 3G (3rd generation) networks across the Caribbean with incoming tourists increasingly expecting access to high speed mobile networks. Social inclusion The World Bank's report, Information and Communications for Development 2009, identified the mobile platform as the "single most powerful way to reach and deliver public and private services to hundreds of millions of people in remote and rural areas across the developing world." Broadband provides the basis for local information technology (IT) services industries which create youth employment, increase productivity and exports, and promote social inclusion, it said. computers

Internet usage remains low in the Caribbean "Access to broadband completes the information foundation for a modern economy and should be a priority in national development plans," said Katherine Sierra, World Bank Vice President for sustainable development. That's why the bank has offered to help the Caribbean. It is in keeping with the view held by Kennedy Swaratsingh, president of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU). Speaking earlier this year, he urged Caribbean countries to accelerate the pace of information and communications technology adoption to keep up with the rest of the world. He said: "It is imperative for our security, the social and economic advancement of the region, your country and your businesses in an increasingly globalized era." Economic growth Mr Navas-Sabater said that, while the growth spurt has been in mobile, there has also been some limited impact on fixed line phones as countries increase their take-up of broadband and cable television. The report found that for every 10 percentage-point increase in high-speed Internet connections there is an increase in economic growth of 1.3 percentage points. "So what this means is that the next wave of sector development, which we are already beginning to see, should actually happen in the area of internet broadband penetration," Mr Navas-Sabater said. He said the bank was therefore seeking to work in developing ICT programmes to help the Caribbean to make "this revolution happen" - whether it is in the development of submarine infrastructure, software industries and/or e-government. He believes governments can play a key role in expanding broadband access by policies and incentives that encourage competition and private investment. The CTU is meantime taking an internet promotion roadshow to 20 countries in the region over the next 10 months - St Kitts was the latest stop in late August. "The show has been developed to raise awareness within the public and private sectors, civil society and academia, of the innovative approaches possible and necessary for the effective use of ICT in government, business and social developments," said CTU Secretary General Bernadette Lewis.

Community

Culture

Entertainment

Food

Health