ICT sector needs investment in human resources, office space

Mark Titus, Staff Reporter

Western Bureau:

Former government Minister, Phillip Paulwell, who has been credited for his role in the liberalisation of the telecommunications market, has cited the lack of office space as a hindrance to the expansion of local information communication technology (ICT). "Office space has been our major problem, but we just have not been able to invest enough in it," Paulwell told The Gleaner recently.

Paulwell's views contrast with those of Patrick Casserly, former owner of eServices Group International, who attributes the stifling of the local ICT sector to the absence of universal access to Internet services as well as costly rates. This is borne out by the fact that Japan is at the top of the list of the top-20 countries offering broadband services, with a mighty 61mbps at a mere US$0.27 cents per mbps. Poland is among the costliest, at US$15 per mbps for an average 7.5mbps, while the US currently offers an average Internet access speed of 4.8mbps for a little over US$3 per mbps.

Contrastingly, in Jamaica, the cost stands at an average of J$4,000 to access speed of about 4mbps. Approximately 24 per cent of the population has access to computers at home, while Internet penetration has climbed to almost 20 per cent.

"At the time when we started, we envisaged that we would need about one million square feet of office space. We barely scratched the service with what we did in Montego Bay and Portmore," Pauwell reported.

Daryl Vaz, minister with responsibility for information, could not be reached for a comment on the matter, nor could Minister of Industry, Investment Commerce Karl Samuda be reached. Samuda's ministry is responsible for encouraging new investments. However, Reginald Budhan, Samuda's chief technocrat, said the Government is now moving to create more space.

"The prime minister did speak of plans to provide a line of credit of ($1.7 billion) through the Development Bank of Jamaica to local investors interested in the sector during his Budget presentation (2011-2012 financial year), and my ministry will be working with Jampro on this initiative," Budhan said.

He also pointed to the 1,000-acre e-commerce complex for the Caymanas estates area, which entails the build-out of units that will service the ICT industry, the services industry, and provide warehousing and light manufacturing such as agro-processing.

Lottery scam impact

Paulwell added, "Just as we were on the growth projectory, the lottery scam occurred and created question marks over Jamaica as a destination that people can trust to give their private information without it being abused.

"The fact that we were not able to solve it quickly was an indictment on us," he charged. "The good thing, though, from all the reports that we get, is that people are impressed with our workers, so I believe we can recover."

Casserly disagrees that the lotto scam has impacted the sector. "The police have done a marvellous job and Jamaica still remains in good standing," he said. "The lotto scam is unfortunate in that it is some very misguided and creative young people who have capitalised on the fact that the infrastructure in Jamaica facilitated it, but this activity exists around the world."

Both men, however, agreed that in order for the local IT sector to compete in the higher end of the business, the Government would need to invest in the development of its human capital where there could be sustained employment.

"I believe that if we could over a short period of time produce over 50,000 software developers, it would be a tremendous incentive for IT companies, especially those located on the Asian continent, to relocate closer to the US market by way of Jamaica," Paulwell said. "We really have not achieved, especially at the upper end of the market."

Northern Caribbean University, the University of Technology, and Heart CIT in Montego Bay are among some of the more established educational institutions that offer IT training.