Caribbean News Now!

By Julie Carrington

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) -- One new telecommunications company will be ‘setting up shop' in Barbados; a move described by Minister in the Prime Minister's Office with responsibility for Energy and Telecommunications, Senator Darcy Boyce, as creating more robustness in the industry.

He made this disclosure on Monday during the opening ceremony of the ICT Roadshow in Barbados.

The minister noted that it was not accidental that government had paved the way for increased competition in the telecoms sector over the last few months, and this had resulted in the introduction of one new player, in the market, Karib Cable.

Following its introduction, Boyce alluded to another telecoms company "entering the fray" very shortly.

"So, we will have essentially four major players operating in the telecommunications market in Barbados... which per capita yields quite a significant amount of revenue. We expect that this [development] will bring to this country more robustness in the telecoms infrastructure; faster bandwidth; and more efficient bandwidth to reap the benefits of ICT," he noted.

Apart from facilitating additional telecommunications companies, the minister said work was ongoing to redefine the sector, to move away from the "old definition of just having a landline to a stage of where there is a minimum level of acceptable broadband at a reasonable price".

With the expansion of the ICT sector, Boyce said greater emphasis would be placed on cyber security. "The greater we advance in this field, the more the dangers are and we must protect against from the point of view of prevention as well as detection and enforcement."

Underscoring the importance of information communications technology (ICTs) in the advancement of a country's social mores and values system, Boyce said: "We cannot rest on what we have achieved... the rest of the world is not waiting on us and, therefore, we have to make our move and stay in the forefront."

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