Internet costs stifling ICT growth

Mark Titus, Staff Reporter

Western Bureau:

Montego Bay-based business consultant Patrick Casserly says that Jamaica's failure to keep pace with the constant innovation in technology globally, and the lack of universal access to an already costly Internet service has stifled the growth of the local industry.

"We skyrocketed initially, but then we rested on our laurels and anyone who knows the technology industry must be aware that it is constant innovation and constant enhancement which will keep you on the cutting edge," Casserly told The Gleaner recently.

Jamaica remains the number one call centre (IT-enabled services) destination in the region, but has plummeted from being the Caribbean's leader in ICT development in 2007 (34th globally), to number three (73) behind Barbados (38) and Trinidad and Tobago (63).

However, Casserly, the immediate past president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and interim chairman of the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship, says he is not concerned about the country's placing, which, in his view, will improve if there is greater access. "The task is to put structure around it," he said. "I think that where we are lacking is universal access.

"Internet services are still too expensive for the average household," charged the former owner of eServices Group International. "Once we have that access, then our position will change globally."