‘High-speed, reliable’ public Wi-Fi now in Junction
Published:Tuesday | May 10, 2022 | 12:05 AM
WESTERN BUREAU:
POWERED BY FLOW, the more than 11,000 residents of Junction, St Elizabeth, have gone global now that they are able to freely access the Universal Service Fund’s (USF) Junction Public Access Wi-Fi hotspot.
“This service can provide access for up to 500 individuals at any one time, and you’re going to get high-speed, reliable and convenient Internet access,” said Carol Robertson, director of enterprise, government and IT solutions at C&W Business Jamaica.
She was speaking last Friday at a function to formally launch the USF’s public Wi-Fi hotspot in the town of Junction.
An investment of approximately $10 million was expended, in partnership with FLOW, to outfit and install the Internet facility under the USF’s Connect Jamaica initiative, which aims to establish free Wi-Fi in parks, town centres and high-traffic stretches of roadway across the country.
According to Robertson, through the provision of higher bandwidth, increased capacity and extended coverage, the Junction public Wi-Fi hotspot is very special, as it was among the first site selected when the USF developed the concept of free public Wi-Fi hotspots.
KNOWLEDGE-BASED SOCIETY
The USF is on a mission to positively impact Jamaica’s socio-economic development by establishing a knowledge-based society through universal access to the Internet.
As such, in April, residents in the parish capital of Black River received a public Wi-Fi hotspot, thanks to the partnership between C&W Business Jamaica and the USF.
Over in Lucea, Hanover, and Savanna-la-Mar in Westmoreland, residents there also have access to high-speed Internet, courtesy of a partnership between the USF and Digicel to install Wi-Fi hotspots valued at a combined investment of $35 million.
Among the 189 community Wi-Fi hotspots being installed islandwide by the USF, 125 of those are now operational. The communities of Cheapside, Ballards Valley and Red Bank in the St Elizabeth South Eastern constituency have been earmarked.
In Westmoreland, along with the public Wi-Fi hotspot in Savanna-la-Mar, residents in the inner-city community of Coke Street, Bethel Town and Grange Hill are all enjoying free Internet service.
At the same time, several other communities, including Little London, Whitehouse, Whithorn and Friendship, are among those slated to benefit during this fiscal year.