ICT Key to Creating Competitive Citizens
As we move into a new era of conducting business access to information and Communication Technology (ICT) is absolutely essential to the modern citizen. Mass connectivity is no longer a word to ponder but rather, an objective to fulfill as we move towards building a knowledge-based information society.
If you thought that the FTC decision in the rebalancing of telecommunications rates was a victory, then when we look at the expensive exercise of owning a cellular phone we can better appreciate that the war on monopolies/telecoms is yet to be won.
Mass connectivity has not been achieved. We are too far off-target and one must wonder if the cellular providers understand the social implications of keeping rates high and restrictive rather than lowering them to penetrate the market. The cellular phone with its ability to access the internet should already have become a valuable companion.
There can be no doubt that left to C&W, Barbados would still be in the dark ages. For those who praise C&W they need to recognise that C&W did nothing extraordinary that any other owner would not have done. In other words they did the bare minimum to keep their pockets filled.
Please do not come with cricket. That argument did not stand up in the rate hearing and it can't stand up now. The people of Barbados paid for cricket not C&W. Therefore, C&W needs to prove to the public:
- That they did not flood the market with primitive equipment, knowing what they were buying but bought it anyhow because it was cheap. Now that they have bought it their excuse is that they made heavy investments which they need to recover and obviously because of this Barbados will not benefit from advances in technology which would take us to the cutting edge.
- That they have not been shortsighted at the expense of Barbadians by resisting every attempt at making telecommunications widely accessible and move closer to bridging the digital divide. So today, for example, Barbadians are being double charged for the use of the internet and if we were not vigilant this time around we would have been triple charged.
- That the interconnection charges they sought are not responsible for the difference in rates between calling a phone from the same provider as opposed to calling from one provider's phone to another provider. To call the same provider's service only the calling party pays, the receiving party does not pay. When the interconnection is used the two providers pay resulting in extra charges to the consumer.
- That they did not ask government to disallow the use of the internet for international calls on grounds that if this was allowed they would lose returns on their investment. Yet questions arose as to whether or not C&W is using the same internet to effect international calls at windfall returns.
These are just some of the stumbling blocks which this nation and indeed the region must find ways to overcome in order for our economy to be competitive. Simple liberalization of the market is not enough. It is taking too long for prices to come down to the level where they should be for a developing country.
It makes no sense comparing ourselves with any other country. The point is that the survival and performance of our economy rest on mass connectivity. We have a small population, we are services oriented and we rely on human resources. We have no natural resources.
We therefore have to find ways of making as many of our citizens as productive as possible. For example we hear that we are an aging society and this should signal that we must find ways of making our senior citizens productive.
The same can be said for the disabled and there can be no better way to tap their productivity than through the use of ICT where people can work from home and other locations or become more efficient through the use of communications. We can also repatriate our brain drain by employing nationals living abroad through ICTs.
The time must come when we must get rid of interconnection charges. There is no reason why a cellular phone or internet should cost more than fifty dollars per month for unlimited use. When you add internet, cellular and landline together, your monthly communications bill is a substantial chunk out of your salary.
One can only consider interconnection charges as a ploy to fleece the consumers of Barbados ; a charge that C&W can't deny when you look at the facts. The fact is that there was a time when cellular phones were so expensive that the average consumer could not afford it.
When the cellular market opened, C&W reduced its rates by more than 50% in less than 24 hours before Digicel launched. The rates have come down substantially since because of the providers entering the market, but still it is expensive.
C&W's behaviour smacks of a lack of social conscience and certainly it is not fitting into the behavioural pattern of what one would consider a good corporate citizen.
One can also charge C&W with not having the foresight to understand that every person in Barbados and indeed CARICOM will find it essential to have a cell phone as our citizens look to benefit from the opportunities thrown up by the implementation of the CSME.
Therefore penetrating the market is far more feasible than employing restrictive pricing practices that can only keep Barbadians poor and in a position to be consistently setback by lack of information and knowledge at their fingertips.
ICTs can no longer be regarded as toys for those who can afford them but a modern day strategy for reducing poverty at one end and maximizing economic performance a the other.
For example, today many people who can't find employment stay out of poverty by using the technology to create a job for themselves. Many small businesses have started and existing ones become more efficient creating job opportunities for Barbadian workers that would not have been there without the technology.
Furthermore, access to the technology is even more crucial because of the way technology has changed business practices. For example, non-traditional job opportunities have been created by the presence of the offshore sector, which require workers with a knowledge of and competency with the technology.
More important is the fact that we are in a hurricane belt and the use of ICT in hurricane preparedness and disaster management has proven itself with the passage of Hurricane Ivan. We are in a position to say that more could have been done if ICTs were properly employed.
Therefore, apart from simple everyday use, ICTs have the capacity to create jobs, deliver medical services, services provided by Government and will very soon become a valuable tool to widen democratic participation and achieve "good governance".
Such an important eventuality cannot be left to the whim and fancy of the likes of C&W. This is about us as a people and as a region; our future and our children's future as we compete to hold our space in the global onslaught.
Roosevelt O. King
Secretary General - BANGO
admin@bango.org.bb
|
