The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Government was yesterday urged to appoint a dedicated Minister for communications and technology (ICT) and place the industry “at the top of its development plans”, amid fears the Bahamas will otherwise “fall further behind”.

Edison Sumner, the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation’s (BCCEC) chief executive, told Tribune Business that the ICT sector was key to this nation diversifying its economy and developing new export revenue streams.

He called for a dedicated Minister, and ICT Ministry, to lead this effort, warning that smaller countries which had been “off the radar” for many years were leapfrogging ahead of the Bahamas through their focus on this industry.

“I think it’s about time the Bahamas developed a real ICT industry,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business. “If we’re serious about growing the country, growing the economy, creating more jobs and creating more exports, this is the way we need to continue going.”

He added that the Bahamas had two options for developing new revenue streams and boosting national income - develop the entrepreneurial class, or identify new industries that could prove to be valuable foreign exchange earners.

“One of those industries is ICT, and we should take it seriously to the point where we have a Minister solely responsible for the development of ICT,” Mr Sumner said.

“Other countries take it seriously, are pushing for it and, despite the Bahamas having one of the most fantastic geographies in the world we don’t take advantage of our geographical logistics and position.”

He added: “I would encourage the political directorate to put this at the top of their development plans for the country, otherwise we will be dropping further and further behind.

“Smaller countries, off the radar for many years, have been developing themselves in this space, and we need to do the same thing.”

Mr Sumner’s charge is far from the first call for the Bahamas to focus on developing a robust, specialist ICT industry that could be a major services exporter and foreign exchange earner.

But, despite the country often seeming poised to become a major player in the sector, both regionally and internationally, this has never quite happened.

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) mobile monopoly, which appears set to end imminently as a result of the second licence’s award to Cable Bahamas, has been one impediment to the development of a globally competitive ICT sector.

Mr Sumner said he hoped the competition between Cable Bahamas and BTC across all aspects of the Bahamian communications market would ensure true nationwide coverage, with no community or settlement missing out on 21st century ICT technology.

“We still have some challenges in parts of the country where there are some issues with access to cable TV, access to bandwidth,” he told Tribune Business.

“I am hopeful that we will see complete coverage, where no island, settlement or community is left untouched. Every resident, no matter where they are located, should have access to good quality telecommunications infrastructure. Hopefully, now we will see the country get the coverage it deserves to stay abreast of all developments in the telecommunications industry.”

The Chamber chief executive reiterated his expectation that communications providers would be able to exploit Hurricane Joaquin’s devastation to “not only rebuild but plan to improve and expand services in those areas, because they have to replace infrastructure anyhow”.

Mr Sumner said the communications industry had reached a point where the likes of Vonage and Skype meant that Bahamian businesses no longer had to use Bahamas-based providers and their physical infrastructure.

“The entire telecommunications industry, particularly the mobile and mobile broadband industry, is moving to a state where data and forms of data are a more valuable commodity than voice services,” Mr Sumner told Tribune Business.

“I believe that in the next seven to 10 years, maybe even less than that, data is going to take over from voice as the main form of communication in the world.”