Commonwealth meets in Port of Spain to leverage broadband access for
knowledge expansion
Port of Spain, Monday 12 Sept 2011 – A progressive and up-to-date ICT sector is essential to the overall development of a country as it seeks to achieve developed country status, said Hon Kamla Persad-Bissemar MP, Trinidad & Tobago (T&T)’s Prime Minister, who was inaugurating the 9th annual Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) Forum. She called for the need to invest in ICT in education, as part of an effort to ensure “access to, and the safe and effective application of, ICTs by the entire population,” noting that T&T, in its commitment to foster an ICT-savvy citizenry, has undertaken to provide each and every child entering secondary school with an Internet-ready laptop.
The three-day 2011 CTO Forum, which is hosted by the Ministry of Public Utilities of Trinidad & Tobago, is being attended by over 200 government officials and industry executives from 40 countries. Discussions during the event are intended to identify solutions to accelerate access to broadband connectivity across the Commonwealth and help member countries benefit from the networked society. “The importance of this conference, under the aegis of the CTO, is primary,” said Hon. Persad-Bissemar, speaking in her capacity as the Chairman of the Commonwealth, “and more particularly, as it relates to the benefits to be derived by all representing nations, as these will form the basis for future growth and development of the Commonwealth of Nations.”
Hon. Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, Minister of Public Administration, identified ICTs and a knowledge-intensive economy as two of the seven interconnected pillars for development of T&T, which is promoting a one-stop government shop for electronic access to health, education, commerce and government services in every remote location of the island nation, as well as free, government-funded internet cafes in communities across the country. She issued a challenge to stakeholders to promote the adoption of ICTs by small business in order to enhance management of stock control and sales and accounting; customer enquiry; online product and services merchandising.
Hon Emmanuel George, Trinidad & Tobago’s Minister of Public Utilities, stressed the importance of “using the technology as a means of enriching the lives of people while at the same time growing and developing the economy.”
Referring to the importance of knowledge acquisition, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, CTO’s outgoing CEO, stated that “access to the Internet and to networked societies and communities effectively amounts to access to knowledge, hence the need for developing countries to make broadband access a key priority.”
The Port of Spain event has attracted many regional and multinational companies, such as Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion (RIM), PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), Digicel, Globecomm, Mills, NetClean Technologies, and SES. The first day of the event focused on enabling policies (including the impact of taxation of end-user equipment such as mobile handsets), regulatory models, as well as operators’ role in responding to the challenge of low access to broadband services. Over the remaining 2 days, issues to be discussed include broadband technologies, financing models, cloud computing, applications, and social media development.
The CTO Forum is the Commonwealth’s annual industry event dedicated to discussing advances in ICTs. Previous CTO Forums took place in Colombo, Sri Lanka (2010), Nadi, Fiji (2009), Abuja, Nigeria (2008), Montego Bay, Jamaica (2007), London, United Kingdom (2006), Yaoundé, Cameroon (2005) and Colombo, Sri Lanka (2004), since its launch in 2003, the event has continued to gain recognition as a unique meeting point for policymakers, regulators, the private sector and civil society on ICTs.
For more information, please contact:
Srini Srinivasan
Senior Marketing Communications Officer
Tel. +44 20 8600 3800
s.srinivasan@cto.int
www.cto.int
About the CTO
With a history dating back to 1901, the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is an international development partnership between the Commonwealth and non-Commonwealth governments, businesses and civil society organisations. Through research and studies, advisory and consultancy services, capacity building and training and events on topical issues, the CTO helps to bridge the digital divide and achieve social and economic development, by delivering a range of unique knowledge-sharing programmes in the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).
From its headquarters in London and with members based in Europe, the Caribbean, Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, the CTO has been at the centre of continuous and extensive international communications development funding, co-operation and assistance programmes. The CTO’s mission is to promote wealth in developing countries through the more efficient utilization of ICTs, and its development agenda reflects the priorities set in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
For more information, visit www.cto.int.
About Trinidad and Tobago
The telecommunications and broadcasting sectors contribute more than USD 6.9 million or 3.4% of the GDP of the country, which is ranked among the top 5 in the world by the World Economic Forum for mobile phone penetration. Broadband internet penetration stands at 46%, accounting for 95% of fixed Internet connections.
Broadband internet here is the least expensive in the Caribbean region at USD 12 per month and 14th globally. In addition, the government of T&T is working aggressively to encourage participants to take up wireless broadband services. To date, spectrum has been auctioned in the 700 MHz and 2.3 GHz frequency bands. Another auction is scheduled for 2012, in which spectrum will be made available in the 700 MHz, 2.5 GHz and 3.5 GHz frequency bands.
