Island Wide Community Centre Free Wi-Fi Initiative Launch

Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 22nd 2021 (ZIZ News)  A launch ceremony was held on Friday at the St. Johnston’s Community Center.

CEO of The Cable, Pat Walters explained that the St. Johnston’s Community Center is the first to receive the service and the roll out of this initiative to all 16 community centres is expected to occur in the next 2 months.

“Within the next two months we will be rolling out to McKnight, Victoria Road, East Basseterre, St. Peters, Conaree, Keys, Cayon Lodge, Tabernacle, St. Pauls, Sandy Point, Fig Tree, Half Way Tree, Trinity and Challengers, 16 Community centers.”

She said providing persons who wouldn’t otherwise have access to the internet the opportunity to access it far exceeds the monetary value of providing the service.

Minister of ICT, Hon. Akilah Byron-Nisbett said this initiative gives community centers the potential to become “mini innovation hubs”.

“This level of access can see our community centers transform into a resource that allows programs geared towards business development, education assistance through after school programs, a meeting venue for small businesses, a place for virtual presentations or meetings. This type of access in our community centers have the potential to transform our community centers into mini innovation hubs, a place where we can see the emergence of new tech businesses or any type of business.”

Minister with Responsibility for Community Development, Hon. Eugene Hamilton described the initiative as significant and congratulated the Cable team for undertaking the project.

“This is a significant achievement and I want to congratulate Cable tv for this significant gesture in every community where there’s a community center….Every child today can benefit from these services, will have access to be able to learn without there being a teacher at your table, access to be able to create and apply what you create so that others around the world can tap into what you’re doing and you can even make a significant living from it.”

The Chief Technical Officer, Yehoshu’a Melchizidek said that the speed of the internet that will be provided at each community center will be in excess of 100mb.