GOVERNMENT IS BEING urged to remove the pad locks from its wi-fi routers so that the general public can have access.
This request was made by the chief executive officer of the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation (BEF) Celeste Foster who applauded the wi-fi coverage in Barbados but said there were strides to be made.
In 2010 the BEF set a goal of nationwide coverage by ten years and today Foster said, “If government would open its offices and agencies so that they are wi-fi hotspots I am sure we can realise this dream much sooner than 2020,” she said.
Foster was speaking at the Youth Agri-Preneurship Incubator Programme held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre St Michael.
There she highlighted that from the organisation’s inception, wi-fi coverage had grown from about ten per cent to 75 per cent by the end of 2013. And she said that an online blog called Rotten wi-fi recently ranked Barbados at number 11 for its coverage ahead of the United States and Canada. Barbados was ranked number one in the Western Hemisphere.
“For a small country like Barbados this is excellent news. Speed and availability of internet access is a huge appeal for foreign investors and it enables our young entrepreneurs to have quicker opportunities while doing business.” (TG)
