Regions 1, 7 and 8 expected to get online before end of year – Hughes

Public Telecommunications Minister, Catherine Hughes says that before the end of the year, Region One (Barima-Waini), Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) and Region Eight (Potaro-Siparuni) are expected to have internet access.

Hughes yesterday told the Department of Public Information that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) hubs were not established in those three regions due to their remoteness, however, she noted that it is the goal of the Ministry to provide communities there with a level of access before the close of the year.

“Unfortunately, they are areas that the private sector has not seen it financially viable to provide service in those areas and therefore we’ve committed that the Government will come in and provide more services… For us the agenda was, we wanted to start this process [development of ICT hubs], we want to move rapidly and therefore it was easier to start along the Coastal Plain and other areas where there was a facility and other opportunities to bring the technology to the people,” the Minister said.

She added that taking internet access to these three regions will require a little more planning and more funding, but “we made a commitment that we’re going to get there.”