BTC President Says Regionwide Connectivity Possible By 2015

by Amanda Banks, for LawAndTax-News.com, London

05 February 2008

Addressing the 24th Annual General Meeting of the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organisations (CANTO) in Suriname recently, Bahamas Telecommunications Company President, Leon Williams suggested that access to telecommunications region-wide by 2015 is achievable.

Mr Williams, who is currently serving as CANTO Chairman, confirmed the aim of the regional organisation to work in cooperation with other NGO’s, providers, policy makers and regulators to ensure that every citizen has access to ICT facilities by the year 2015.

Noting the over 800,000 “villagers” in the Caribbean that still need to be connected through telecommunications, he observed that: “While it is a monumental task, certainly it is not something that is insurmountable because if we all work together the task is an easy task.”

Suriname's President, Ronald Venetiaan officially opened the CANTO AGM, held 27-29 January. He noted the importance of the conference theme ‘Caribbean Unity Through Connectivity’, and called on governments in the region to design and implement policies to facilitate the development of affordable, accessible and effective ICT networks, services and applications.

He argued that through cooperative initiatives with local and regional stakeholders, the region should be able to develop the required ICT networks.

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