“Little
progress is being made in bridging the digital divide between technology savvy
nations and others. The stalling of progress is worrisome for emerging and
developing nations, which are at risk of missing out on many positive impacts
information and communications technologies (ICT) bring, including increased
innovation, economic competitiveness and greater social inclusion”
Excerpt from the WEF
(World Economic Forum) GITR (Global Information Technology Report) 2014 on the
state of Broadband Penetration in the Developing World
According
to the Think-Tank’s GITR
(Global Information Technology Report) 2014, Jamaica has fallen 7 places in
the rankings from 79th to 86th in the Global Rankings, a
fall of seven places, when compared to the last WEF GITR 2013 entitled “Growth and Jobs in
a Hyperconnected World”.
The
other countries relative to us within the Caribbean in the ranking are as
follows:
1.
1st for Finland
2.
41st for Puerto Rico
3.
56th for Barbados
4.
71st for Trinidad &
Tobago
Jamaicans and WEP GITR
Rankings – 87th Globally but 5th in the Caribbean in
Broadband Penetration
Ironically,
we’re ranked 5th in the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) DigiLAC
index as reported in “Ranking
Caribbean Countries on Broadband Penetration”, published May 20, 2014 12:57
pm by Caribbean Journal staff, Caribbean
Journal. The Index is as shown below:
So
it’s not all Bad News…..Barbados is the only country that has us beat, albeit
I’m expecting that BOTH the WEF GITR 2015 Report and the IDB DigiLAC index will
show a shift up for all Caribbean Islands after Telecom Provider LIME and
Telecom Provider Digicel deploy 4G LTE through the Caribbean.
Jamaicans and Broadband
– Rights to Broadband needed as If it don’t Make Money it Don’t make Sense
I’d
done a blog
article entitled “Jamaica's
700MHz Spectrum Auction fails to attract bidders on Friday October 11 2013 -
Jamaicans Lack interest in Broadband Internet and no Telecom Regulator for the
Sector” in which I’d cited Jamaica’s lack of interest in Broadband Internet
was due to the fact that Jamaicans do not know how to make Money from the
Internet.
Jamaicans
are a pragmatic bunch. If I’m paying for something, I must have some benefit,
as unlike our first world cousins, we’re not as privileged or wealthy on
average. Thus any Technology we possess must be either for Entertainment or to
Make money.
To
this end, we entertain ourselves by using Broadband Internet access mostly to
play games and for Social Media, according to the results of an old but still
very relevant Dr.
Hopeton Dunn Caribbean ICT Indicators and Broadband Survey in 2011
conducted by the Mona School of Business (MSB) at the University of the West
Indies (UWI), in 2011 as chronicled in my Geezam
blog article entitled “Jamaica’s
Low Net Penetration – Broadband Internet A Universal Right”.
The
lack of a recognition that legally too, there is need to implement the UNCHR
(United Nations Charter of Human Rights) as it relates to Access to Broadband
Internet means many communities in Jamaica lack the Legislative tools to
pressure Telecom Providers to demand Broadband Access in their communities.
There
is also a need to Teach Jamaicans how to make money online, such as selling
items on Ebay as summarized in my blog article
entitled “How
to make money as an EBay Seller online - Everything in Jamaica from Rare Coins
to Unique Craft Items”.
But
as mentioned above, if the deployments as mentioned in this week of World
Telecommunications Day, celebrated on May 17th 2014 are adhered to
as stated in “LIME invests
billions in mobile network”, Published Monday May 19, 2014, The Jamaica Gleaner and “Digicel
says mobile 4G now 92% population coverage”, published Tuesday, May 20,
2014 10:18 AM, The Jamaica Observer,
then expect these Reports and Indices to trend upwards as we become more
Broadband Aware.
Here’s
the link to the article:
No comments:
Post a Comment