A $1.3 MILLION INVESTMENT from LIME and the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) has seen Bridgetown become the first capital city in the Caribbean with a complete wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network.
On Tuesday at the service’s launch in Jubilee Gardens, The City, BCCI president Andy Armstrong said the initiative was undertaken to make Bridgetown a 24/7 city of diversity.
Armstrong explained that it was an effort to enhance Bridgetown’s international competiveness and reverse the downward trend of businesses moving away from The City.
“We want to get businesses coming back to Bridgetown and make it a vibrant city that we can all be proud of,” Armstrong said.
LIME and BCCI signed a five-year memorandum of understanding that will make the Wi-Fi network available until 2016.
The network has more than 100 access points, and so far more than 50 businesses in The City and immediate environs have agreed to host the service.
LIME managing director Alex McDonald said that with the introduction of this service, Barbados was setting itself up for greatness.
He said that being the first to have a capital city with Wi-Fi Internet was sending a powerful message.
“It is a powerful, powerful message, for anything else after this is second.
No one will remember ‘well, we were the next after’ – they will always remember that a small island in the Caribbean Sea was first,” McDonald said.
Lalu Vaswani, chair of the Revitalization Of Bridgetown Initiative under which the Wi-Fi initiative falls, said the aim was to transform Bridgetown into a city of diversion. He explained that from the outset LIME indicated their willingness to partner with BCCI and committed to investing over $200 000 towards improved beautification of The City alongside its million-dollar-plus capital investment in equipment to provide Wi-Fi.
The service is free until November 1 and is accessible by computer, smart phone and tablet.
Wi-Fi hotspots include the Barbados Tourism Investment car park, Cave Shepherd, Caribbean Examinations Council Office, Kensington Oval, Atlantis Submarines, Queen’s Park, and Barbados National Bank. (LK)
