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Paulwell urges phone applications development
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Philip Paulwell opposition spokesman on telecommunications whilst waving his cell phone revealed that he no longer pays to talk amidst urging local programmers to develop phone applications.
The cell phone is more than a telephone but a device to solve problems, he reasoned.
"There are so many problems that we could solve using this device that I no longer pay to talk I use Skype," he said last week whilst addressing the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day Conference hosted at the Mona School of Business at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Paulwell was instrumental in liberalising the island's telecommunications sector a decade ago formerly controlled by Cable & Wireless. It resulted in the initial entry of cell companies Digicel and Centennial (now Claro) followed by a slew of data companies into the market.
Skype, a successful Internet application service developed in Luxembourg, offers free calls on network. It was acquired by US based Microsoft for US$8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake, earlier this month.
"I am looking now for our youngsters to develop software applications to enable me to use this as a debit card and deal with personal security such as bill payment and traffic management. If we think of the issues that concern us, this thing can solve it but I don't think the populace has been pushed sufficiently to deal with it," he said.
Paulwell also mirrored previous presenters in stating that Jamaica must raise local internet access or risk falling further behind competing countries.He added that Trinidad & Tobago has made progress in application development.
"This total pre-occupation on voice is misplaced. I too share the view that Trinidad has done remarkably well given where they are coming from vis-a-vie where they are today. Down there there is a greater focus on applications and content," he said.
The two day conference brought together policy makers, regulators, academics and practitioners in the field of ICT to discuss key issues and strategies. The conference came amidst recent reports of serious gaps and challenges in Jamaica's performance in broadband internet access.
A recently completed Caribbean ICT Indicators and Broadband Survey for Jamaica stated that just 15.6 per cent of households have Internet access while 38 per cent of individuals use the internet once daily.
Meanwhile 24 per cent have access to a computer at home. The survey was conducted between November 2010 and January of this year with the fieldwork done by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN). The survey followed recent news that Jamaica's 'technology decline is amongst the top-10 worst in the world', according to the recent World Economic Forum Global Information Technology Report for 2010/2011.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/busin...#ixzz1NMFxt8Q3
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Philip Paulwell opposition spokesman on telecommunications whilst waving his cell phone revealed that he no longer pays to talk amidst urging local programmers to develop phone applications.
The cell phone is more than a telephone but a device to solve problems, he reasoned.
"There are so many problems that we could solve using this device that I no longer pay to talk I use Skype," he said last week whilst addressing the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day Conference hosted at the Mona School of Business at the University of the West Indies, Mona.
Paulwell was instrumental in liberalising the island's telecommunications sector a decade ago formerly controlled by Cable & Wireless. It resulted in the initial entry of cell companies Digicel and Centennial (now Claro) followed by a slew of data companies into the market.
Skype, a successful Internet application service developed in Luxembourg, offers free calls on network. It was acquired by US based Microsoft for US$8.5 billion in cash from the investor group led by Silver Lake, earlier this month.
"I am looking now for our youngsters to develop software applications to enable me to use this as a debit card and deal with personal security such as bill payment and traffic management. If we think of the issues that concern us, this thing can solve it but I don't think the populace has been pushed sufficiently to deal with it," he said.
Paulwell also mirrored previous presenters in stating that Jamaica must raise local internet access or risk falling further behind competing countries.He added that Trinidad & Tobago has made progress in application development.
"This total pre-occupation on voice is misplaced. I too share the view that Trinidad has done remarkably well given where they are coming from vis-a-vie where they are today. Down there there is a greater focus on applications and content," he said.
The two day conference brought together policy makers, regulators, academics and practitioners in the field of ICT to discuss key issues and strategies. The conference came amidst recent reports of serious gaps and challenges in Jamaica's performance in broadband internet access.
A recently completed Caribbean ICT Indicators and Broadband Survey for Jamaica stated that just 15.6 per cent of households have Internet access while 38 per cent of individuals use the internet once daily.
Meanwhile 24 per cent have access to a computer at home. The survey was conducted between November 2010 and January of this year with the fieldwork done by the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN). The survey followed recent news that Jamaica's 'technology decline is amongst the top-10 worst in the world', according to the recent World Economic Forum Global Information Technology Report for 2010/2011.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/busin...#ixzz1NMFxt8Q3
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