Gov’t Committed to Knowledge-Based Environment

The Government has reiterated its commitment to develop a knowledge-based environment that will enable Jamaicans to become creators and consumers of applications.

Minister of Science, Energy and Technology, Dr. the Hon. Andrew Wheatley, says there is no reason Jamaicans cannot produce and assemble technologies here.

“I believe this will not only reduce the amount spent on importation, but will lead to job creation, capacity building and economic growth,” he said.

The Minister was speaking at the official opening of the Huawei Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Innovation Exhibition and Global Roadshow, held at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in Kingston, on June 7.

In the meantime, he said the Government recognises the importance of ICT to national development and economic growth.

The Minister pointed out that ICTs are global tools that connect people from various sectors, industries and markets across the world, and although Jamaica is a relatively small country, “we are making inroads in the development of our ICT sector.”

Dr. Wheatley said that as the mobile industry continues to grow rapidly, with a total of 3.6 billion subscribers at the end of 2015, Jamaica’s teledensity rate also continues to trend upwards and remains consistently above 100 per cent.

The Minister noted that a recent partnership between Digicel Group and Huawei Technologies to deploy a technology known as XG-PON on a fibre network, which delivers speed of up to 10,000 megabytes, is expected to create a new era in ultraband speed.

“This has the potential to bring Jamaica in line with countries such as Korea and Singapore as it relates to broadband speed,” he said.

XG-PON stands for ‘10Gbps Passive Optical Network’ and represents a new era in ultra-broadband speeds never before seen in the Caribbean region.

Noting the importance of the exhibition, Dr. Wheatley said it is anticipated that through the exhibits and displays, Jamaicans will acquire a deeper sense and appreciation for ICTs and their vast capabilities.

He noted that Huawei, being a leading global ICT provider,  has carved its niche within the local space by enhancing communication through the provision of an affordable alternative to mobile connectivity across Jamaica.

For his part, General Manager, Huawei Jamaica Office, Allen Chenyue, said the roadshow aims to create a platform to engage with local industry in the areas of Enterprise ICT, Telecom business and network and consumer terminal business.

The exhibition is being held under the theme ‘Open Roads to a Better Connected World’ and is slated to last until June 9.