Western Hanover to get Internet access
Published:Thursday | April 21, 2022 | 12:05 AMBryan Miller/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
THOUSANDS OF adults and students from western Hanover, who formerly had little or no access to Internet connection and the use of Wi-Fi, will as of Friday, April 22 be able to access and use that medium for both work, school and personal benefits, while in the Hanover capital town of Lucea.
The Gleaner has been informed that the Universal Service Fund (USF) will be responsible for activating an Internet hotspot in Bustamante Square, Lucea, Hanover, which will offer free Internet access and the use of free Wi-Fi, within a range of up to 100 metres from the town square.
“It is a project being implemented by the Universal Service Fund, where they are going into different communities to offer Internet access, and Lucea, Hanover, has been chosen to benefit,” mayor of Lucea and chairman of the Hanover Municipal Corporation (HMC), Sheridan Samuels, told The Gleaner.
The USF is an agency under the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology, mandated to ensure access to information and communication technology across the country. The Gleaner was informed that the USF is committed to establishing a total of 189 free information and communication technology infrastructure across the island, three per political constituency. To date, approximately 105 have been established under the fund.
“They (the USF) will be doing it in collaboration with the HMC. Total cost will be with them. I can tell you that as early as Thursday, April 21, it should be up and running and I will be the first one to use it,” Samuels said.
He described the project as an excellent one, noting that the economic crisis that many persons are facing presently makes the purchase of telephone credit for data access a difficult to almost impossible task for a lot of individuals, and as such, the free access will mark an improvement in the communication levels across Lucea.
“It will be so good because children coming from school will be able to sit in the bus park, or the social park outside the police post, in Bustamante Square, and access the Internet and do their school homework by utilising the WI-Fi service,” he said.
Samuels added that with the improved telecoms service, the opportunity will be present for the introduction of CCTV equipment within the town.
When questioned about plans for the introduction of Internet service in the town, one grade-11 student from Rusea’s High School in Lucea told The Gleaner that such a service will be of great help to her, adding that she is sure that several other students who live in the interior sections of the parish where there is no access to the Internet “will be glad for the free access, if it’s even for at least two hours after school each day”.
One transport operator agreed with the student, noting that there are several areas across the parish that do not have Internet access, and that the free Internet and Wi-Fi access “would benefit both students and adults” from those areas, who have to pass through the town.