Ja to get Internet boost

Written by jamaica-gleaner.com
August 19, 2005

Jamaica has been ranked 41st out of 65 countries in information technology development. Jamaica was the only Caribbean country to be surveyed in the Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) 2005 e-readiness rankings, scoring 4.82 out of 10, compared to Denmark which top-scored with 8.74. Of the six categories the countries were assessed in, Jamaica's weakest performance came in connectivity and infrastructure. However, Jamaica is expected to receive a boost in this area with the introduction of two new undersea fibre-optic cables, which should be in place within 12 months, according to Mark Reid, chief operating officer at Jamaica Network Access Point Limited (JNAP).

JNAP is part of the Trans Caribbean Cable Company Limited consortium, one of the two undersea fibre-optic cable systems for which licences were awarded earlier this year. "Cable & Wireless has already lowered its rates because of the anticipated competition, and Internet costs could fall by as much as 70 per cent," Mr. Reid said.

The other five assessment areas were: business environment; consumer and business adoption; legal and policy environment; social and cultural environment and supporting e-services. Jamaica scored higher than the global average in the legal and policy environment categories. Dainsworth Richards, strategic planning officer at the Central Information Technology Office (CITO), said this reflected Government's commitment to a 'knowledge-based society'.