Govt to make Internet access cheaper, easier

IN DEVELOPING the Infor-mation, Communication and Technology (ICT) sector, Government will take the lead in ensuring citizens are equipped to take advantage of opportunities in an electronically driven environment.

To that end, Government will seek to make accessing the Internet cheaper and easier and will establish community access centres, home-based access centers and e-commerce education. Government will also embark on a nationwide programme of training and sensitisation to increase access to education programmes in computer literacy, Internet usage, e-commerce and associated technologies. It will further establish Business Incubation facilities to assist in the start-up services for small businesses wishing to engage in e-commerce.

To demonstrate its commitment to achieving these goals, Government will formulate policies, allocate resources and put the necessary legislation in place. Government’s plans were announced yesterday by Prime Minister Patrick Manning, when he launched the National Information and Comm-unication Technology Plan for Trinidad and Tobago. Manning noted that progressive countries were constantly embracing and developing the ICT sector to ensure their enduring viability in today’s international environment, which was characterised by competition and interdependence. He said underdevelopment of the sector will leave nations on the “global periphery with its people stagnating in a 21st century version of the dark ages”.

However, he pointed out that several fundamental and critical steps must first be taken to ensure the development of the potential for wealth generation in the sector. These include development of a world class telecommunications and information technology, improving access by citizens at all levels to benefits and opportunities of the industry and further liberalisation of trade in telecommunications and information technology. Manning said there must also be a quantum leap in the development of e-commerce, the need to embark on nationwide training and awareness of the dynamics of the sector and to ensure all small and medium sized enterprises take advantage of opportunities provided by the interconnected world. He also announced Govern-ment’s commitment to electronic government, which enables citizens to have on-line access to government offices and facilities. He noted that steps had already been taken to re-engineer internal processes within the public service, through the Public Service Intranet which was soon to come on stream.

Manning said already long lines and wastage of time were being reduced at some government offices. But the Prime Minister warned that one should never become so captivated by the technology that they become “dangerously and expensively self-indulgent”. Manning said Government was not “pursuing an ideological egalitarianism” but had simply recognised that the ICT sector “can be an equaliser, providing unprecedented access to knowledge and opportunity for the disadvantaged individual, organisation or nation”.