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Nigel Carty, Minister of State within the Prime Ministers office with responsibility for Telecommunications |
(BASSETERRE, St. Kitts) Wednesday May 17, marked another milestone for World Telecommunication Day. World Telecommunications Day is celebrated on the 17th of May each year and the day is celebrated to remind the global community of its responsibility of providing access to telecommunication services to people all around the world.
Nigel Carty, Minister of State within the Prime Minister's office with responsibility for Telecommunications gave an address aired on ZIZ last evening.
Minister Carty said that on the 38th Anniversary of World Telecom Day, the Government of St. Kitts and Nevis intends to continue its own commitment to enable access to information and communication for all its residents and visitors irrespective of where they work or recreate.
"Samuel Morse used a simple series of dots and dashes to send the first message by telegraph -- ushering in the dawn of the telecommunications age," he said. "Within a decade, telegraphy had become a routine public service life would have been difficult without telecommunication from the televisions, radios, internet and even cell phones."
He added: "Mobile phones extend to every level of our society, and as we vigorously work to alleviate the 'Technological divide,' no longer is the cell phone perceived as a symbol of social status."
He also said that we now live in an age in which communication between one another is important to achieving our shared goals of expansion and passive coexistence. Innovations in information and communication technologies have increased exponentially our ability to connect with each other.
"The cell phone has become popular not only among doctors, lawyers and other professionals, but among service providers, who are always on the move, as well as the ordinary man, woman and child," he said.
"The advantage of instant person to person contact, any time, any place, has made mobile telephony considerably more popular. From free weekend minutes, easy roaming rates, 'e-topping up' to the popular, 'double bubble,' the cell phone is here to stay."
The minister said that by combining new and old technologies such as Internet and satellite communication at one end and village radios at the other and by seeking complementarities between them, the Internet can serve development. In this way, not only technologies will be connected, but also people.
The Internet and e-commerce facilitate the trading of goods and help businesses develop. The Internet may help build a global conscience: improving business ethics through pressure from global public opinion, via Internet communication.
"The Caribbean has been identified as a region with immense growth potential in the telecommunication sector. Changes in information technologies have left few economic sectors untouched," he said.
"Affordable access to, and control of information are replacing access to natural resources as a determinant of the socio-economic position of nations. And although this holds great promise for removing poverty and under-development, the dichotomy between the well-to-do, and the not-so-well-off could be widened by these same technologies."
Information and communications technologies are impacting and reshaping our lives on a daily basis he said. They are changing the way we interact, do business, define relationships, and play. As we move along in the 21st century, our nation, the region and the world will have to grapple with achieving the most important ideal - making ICTs accessible to all peoples, that is, true universal access. That is why initiatives like the WSIS and CAPDD have been instituted.
"We will have to look at the idea of convergence in that, any service that is provided should be able to be delivered over any network, including between networks," Carty said. "We will continue to focus on quality of service this administration will insist that regulators have the ability to set minimum standards for service quality to protect consumers."
He continued: "We will have to take a look at financing, as well as the cost of building infrastructure. And last but not least; we will have to look at human resource development which is an extremely critical component in the future development and expansion of the ICT sector."
