Message-ID: <m0uSsu0-0002TEC@atlas.sr.net> Date: Mon, 10 Jun 1996 01:24:00 GMT From: "P.E. van Kanten" <mailto:pevkmail@SR.NET> Subject: Re: Internet Availability Outside of the USA To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
At 17:36 09-06-96 -0400, James Corbin wrote:>The following is an article I have written on the subject of the
>THE INTERNET IN CARICOM
[..snip..]
> Today the members
>countries of
>CARICOM are; Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, belize, Dominica,
>Grenada,
>Guyana, Jamaica, Monsterrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and
>the Grenadines
>and Trinidad and Tobago.
[..snip..]
Dear James:
I was very pleased with your article, as I am very much interested in the topic of Internet in the Caribbean. I am convinced of the enormous value of this way of communication for knitting together our mostly small and geographically isolated communities.
However, while your data appear to be quite recent, you have apparently overlooked the fact that since July 1995, the Republic of Suriname is a full CARICOM member.
We do have Internet access, offered by our telcom, TELESUR as the only provider, which also operates as a monopoly.
Our population is around 400,000, however I do not know the phone penetration figure, so I can not complete your table.
As for tariffs, TELESUR presently offers two hours of access per month for US$45.00. Extra minutes are charged at US$0.20. No phone charges for the dial-in number.
A Limited Access service costs US$6.25 per month plus US$0.07/minute online plus about US$0.20 per kilobyte of outgoing mail.
It is expected that the tariffs, which contrast noticably with the figures you have mentioned, will soon be reconsidered by TELESUR.
I have forwarded your article to the TELESUR management and asked for their contribution in completing the picture.
On the other hand if I may suggest, as you apparently have access to the pertinent figures, could you perhaps add to your tables, (a) the number of Internet accounts in each of the countries and maybe (b) a unified tariff indicator for purpose comparison, showing the expenses in dollars for let's say 5, 10, 20 40 hours of access at the lowest available rate in each country?
Another point of interest which you might be aware of: In many of the Caribbean countries access to the internet did exist much longer, via a UUCP gateway at the University of Puerto Rico, made available through CUNet (Caribbean University Network) initiative pioneered by Dr Saul Hahn of the OAS and serving some university and other research and NGO networks. The setup was simple but it worked: PC's fitted with a modem and software for BBS and a UUCP emulation.
The position of these already existing networks Research & NGO has drasticly changed with the advent of the telecom companies as access providers. Your article does not make mention of them. In an earlier posting to DEVEL-L on this subject, Marcus Day of St Lucia gave some information on the existence of such an NGO-network. It would, I think be an interresting discussion to figure out which role these pioneer networks have played, what function they still have to fulfil and if yes, how they were our could/should be fitted in the emerging infrastructure of telcom's as ISP's.
Following an online discussion about a year ago on this topic, a mailing list was started dealing with Internet in the Caribbean. The list is mailto:<CARIBUSER@DHVX20.CSUDH.EDU> and for subscribtion you should send a mail to mailto:<CARIBUSER-request@DHVX20.CSUDH.EDU> with the word "subscribe" in the body.
It might be a good idea for those interested in the topic, to join that list. I am sure we could benefit from joining hands.
Cheers,
Percy van Kanten
_______________________________________________________________ Percy E. van Kanten |tel/fax (+597)477129 mailto:<pvkanten@sr.net> (personal mail) |POBox 755,PARAMARIBO,Suriname mailto:<pevkmail@sr.net> ("bulk mail") |