Senator Darcy Boyce, Minister in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Energy, Immigration, Telecommunications and Investment, has suggested that Barbados is lagging in the telecommunications sector on the international stage.
He therefore called for an increase in telecommunications services and higher standards at a cheaper cost. He also noted that the Telecommunications Division welcomed “more service providers”.
His comments came as he delivered the feature address at a breakfast seminar at Hilton Barbados yesterday.
The event was put on by the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Digicel (Barbados) Limited with the theme ICT And Its Impact On The Business Community.
“We want to see increases in the volume of telecommunication services in Barbados, with commensurate reductions in the price of such services. At the same time, we do not wish to achieve these two parameters with a decline in quality and reliability of the services. We also wish the quality and reliability to improve even as the volume increases and the price falls,” he said.
Boyce said increasing the number of telecommunication service providers and the quality of such services would help the country to compete in tourism and international business. He also pointed out that while some fibre optic cable has been installed in the island, “more is required”.
“It is therefore very important that we get ahead with the installation of more fibre optic cable, including ‘fibre optic to the house’. In a very short while, we have to get our telecommunications capacity and quality on par with the leading telecommunication environments in the world.
