Public Internet and Broadband across Jamaica will be increased: Govt

Jamaica: Prime Minister Andrew Holness had recently announced that the government has been planning to increase the upgrade of internet and broadband services across the island.

While addressing the public at the official launch and unveiling ceremony of public wifi hotspots in West Central St Andrew, Prime Minister Holness said the government is making every effort to upgrade internet and broadband services by leveraging partnerships with the various service providers to bring internet to schools and public spaces right across Jamaica.

The process includes providing persons with the necessary devices, particularly for learning which the government has already started.

Prime Minister Holness mentioned, “The government has two strategic interventions; one is to get devices into the hands of those who can’t afford them, which we have been doing with our children. The second is to get the schools connected so that they can use smart devices. We will also continue to place internet access in the public domain, particularly in public areas, so that if you need to do transactions, you can do them online.”

With the expansion of technology happening across the country, the Prime Minister noted that it is almost imperative at this time that society embraces the digital age and disregards fear and, or superstition. He explained that other societies are advancing due to the acceptance of new and advanced technology, which has made businesses around the world more efficient.

PM Holness said, “The societies that embrace technology and embrace science and remove suspicion and fear and instead apply reason are the societies that progress and prosper; those are the societies that end up controlling resources and conquering others. Societies that fear technology resist technology, resist science and rest their hopes on superstition and fear, those societies crumble and become mired in poverty.”

In the meantime, the prime minister appealed to citizens to protect the country’s infrastructure, including the public wifi hotspot put in place by the government.