Residents of Jones Town in Southern St. Andrew are grateful that they are now able to access the Internet, free of cost, at a designated area in their community.
This follows the commissioning into service of a Wi-Fi hotspot at the Jones Town Primary School by the Universal Service Fund (USF), recently.
Community member, Louise Newland, said that the establishment of the hotspot is an important development for the residents, particularly the children.
“This project will be an added resource to the community and especially our children, who will now have access to browse, research and do their assignments. Thanks to the USF for helping our community to stay connected. We really appreciate this gesture,” she said.
Executive Director, Jones Town Benevolent Society, Itana Henry, also expressed gratitude for the service.
“This is very heart-warming. It’s like a dream come true,” he said, noting that the users of the service will be able to travel the world by connecting to the Internet.
Chairman of the Jones Town Primary School, Patrick Rose, also welcomed the Wi-Fi service as “a step in the right direction”.
“What is happening here with the USF is, indeed, a milestone achievement. It is really satisfying to me to know that the people of Jones Town can, when they are in this vicinity, take out their phone and be browsing or at work in [the] virtual space,” he added.
The $7.5-million Wi-Fi hotspot forms part of the Government’s efforts to provide Internet connectivity so that citizens can do business, work, learn, earn, among other things.
The facility is the first of three to be installed in the Southern St. Andrew constituency.
Chief Executive Officer, USF, Daniel Dawes, said that the agency is on track to establish 189 community hotspots islandwide before the end of the financial year on March 31. “We are way beyond 100,” he noted.
He said that the Jones Town Primary School has been furnished with computers, “so anybody can leave from the community and go to this space, do your assignments, do your business transactions”.
He indicated that the additional hotspots for St Andrew South will be located at the Charlie Smith High School in Arnett Gardens and at a site in Trench Town.
Leader of the Opposition and Member of Parliament for South St. Andrew, Mark Golding, urged the residents to make use of the service being provided to empower themselves. “Don’t use it for nastiness and to spread badness and negative things,” he said.
He noted the importance of making investments in improving the lives of people.
“It is investments in the people that generate the kind of society we need… and if we invest in the people, the returns will be great. People’s lives will improve, and life will be better,” Mr. Golding pointed out.
Divisional Commander, Kingston Western Police Division in which Jones Town is located, Senior Superintendent Michael Phipps, in welcoming the provision of the free Internet service said that early in the pandemic, students in the area and surrounding communities were unable to readily gain access to the Internet to participate in online studies.
He noted that some students were assisted in using the Internet at the police station.
“I am happy for the students more than anything else, but I am happy, too, for the community,” he said, adding that access will broaden their scope of knowledge about world happenings.
The 189 communities selected to benefit from free Wi-Fi were chosen based on initial submissions by Members of Parliament and the outcome of subsequent assessments conducted at sites consistent with the Fund’s selection criteria.
