https://ict-pulse.com/2014/06/telecoms-ict-age-information-society/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=telecoms-ict-age-information-society&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=telecoms-ict-age-information-society Discussing ICT, telecommunications and technology Issues from a Caribbean perspective Wed, 02 Jul 2014 13:07:22 +0000 hourly 1 https://ict-pulse.com/2014/06/telecoms-ict-age-information-society/#comment-171141 Wed, 02 Jul 2014 13:07:22 +0000 http://www.ict-pulse.com/?p=61768#comment-171141 Good read. There are 2 points I would like to note:
First, Guyana’s ICT4D policy as outlined in her annual Budgets (i.e. 2013, 2014) focuses on 5 areas: telecoms liberalisation, mass distribution of netbooks, IT literacy training, ICT infrastructure (i.e. national fiber optic network) and laisons with the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) area of the ICT private sector. So the focus is not ‘almost exclusively’ on telecoms policy and regulation. On the contrary, it has been rather slow going on the liberalisation of telecoms in Guyana – just ask Digicel.
However, and this is the second point, this five-fold approach can indeed be adequately (and unfortunately) described as a “current suite of policies [through which government has] created enabling environments for access (at best), i.e. matters related to the infrastructure, but to date, the same level of effort has not been given to encouraging use [as opposed to access], innovation and entrepreneurship.” Certainly not to the extent of having a “transformational impact on the lives of the individual and the society as a whole.” The current limited and even hodge-podge focus on and approach to ICT related regulation, infrastructure, access and private sector incentives without a holistic focus on significant and meaningful diffusion and use of IT across the socio-economic landscape have only resulted in a limited unlocking of ICT4D potential in Guyana to-date. For example, the 2014 budget states that ICT – as a sector – will contribute 7% of GDP (a reasonable enough figure I suppose) but it has been at 7% since 2010. No growth inspite of the stated suite of policies.

]]>