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Source: The Daily Gleaner (News Update)
Thursday, April 14, 2011
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28023
85% households still without Internet
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
The latest Broadband and ICT indicators survey for Jamaica, showed that only 15 per cent of households have access to the Internet in their homes.
The survey, which was produced by the Mona School of Business in collaboration with several regional partners, also showed that only 24 per cent of households have access to computers in their homes.
Research director, Professor Hopeton Dunn, who gave details of the survey during a media briefing at the Wyndham Hotel in Kingston this morning, said the reasons for the low numbers include the high cost of the equipment, high cost of the Internet service, lack of interest and the fact that an Internet connection is not available in some areas.
Professor Dunn said, the numbers should be cause for concern since the Internet is, what he described as, the central hub for education and economic analysis.
"In that respect, it is slowing the rate of our development because we are now in a knowledge based society, an information society and if we don't have the tools by which we gain that information, then we will not as a country or as a people be competitive enough to make our way in the world," Dunn told The Gleaner.
He said, the level of internet access in Jamaican households is similar to the global average for the poorer countries of the world and is not something the country should be proud of.
livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com
Thursday, April 14, 2011
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28023
85% households still without Internet
Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer
The latest Broadband and ICT indicators survey for Jamaica, showed that only 15 per cent of households have access to the Internet in their homes.
The survey, which was produced by the Mona School of Business in collaboration with several regional partners, also showed that only 24 per cent of households have access to computers in their homes.
Research director, Professor Hopeton Dunn, who gave details of the survey during a media briefing at the Wyndham Hotel in Kingston this morning, said the reasons for the low numbers include the high cost of the equipment, high cost of the Internet service, lack of interest and the fact that an Internet connection is not available in some areas.
Professor Dunn said, the numbers should be cause for concern since the Internet is, what he described as, the central hub for education and economic analysis.
"In that respect, it is slowing the rate of our development because we are now in a knowledge based society, an information society and if we don't have the tools by which we gain that information, then we will not as a country or as a people be competitive enough to make our way in the world," Dunn told The Gleaner.
He said, the level of internet access in Jamaican households is similar to the global average for the poorer countries of the world and is not something the country should be proud of.
livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com