Reaching the T-junction with Baribican Road, the more affluent can turn left for cappuccino and free wireless Internet access from C&W at the Häagen Dazs cafe in Barbican.  A comfortable experience but then most Jamaicans cannot afford a $200 cappuccino or have a wireless-enabled laptop computer.

Besides the actual availability of service, turning right at Barbican Road is what will popularise Internet usage - providing access to schools and communities.

Nestled inside the Grants Pen Police Station, the Cyber Club, with service provided by C&W charged at an hourly rate, is seeing more and more local customers, says System Administrator Nelka-Clarke Reid, herself from the community.

"As young as five to 75 years old.  The 75-year-old man came here to look at a Google Earth where you can zoom in and see your street in Jamaica and the five-year-olds come here for Disney and games," said Ms. Reid.

But computer ownership in the community remains low, she added.  A problem that throughout Jamaica is seen as the biggest hindrance to Internet connectivity.

According to C&W, broadband penetration is six per cent.

More access

While Jamaicans can access the Internet via C&W's copper phone wires, by wireless and now by Flow's fibre optic cables, without a computer they cannot get online.

Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell has long encouraged Internet service providers and computer suppliers to offer package deals having already removed GCT on computers.  But the industry remained unconvinced.

Carlton Cowell, proprietor of the One Stop Computers store in Kingston, has signed a deal with Flow to sell computers to their customers at a discounted rate.  At $29,950, a computer package is 25 per cent cheaper than before, said Mr. Cowell.

Sales are up and many of them are first time computer buyers, he said.

"You can tell when they come and say, 'It's long time I want a computer but the price has been out of my range'," he explained.

"It's not just about selling computers but the more people who have computers and have Internet then we as an industry can sell more products and we are also trying to start a finance deal to make it more appealing," he added.

E-readiness

The lack of e-readiness was a challenge that led Kingston-based new media company Aura Technologies to develop its own software solution, using broadband technology to bring content into homes by cable television.  Aura's resulting Firestream Media Distribution System interface is being used on-screen by broad-casters from TVJ to SportsMax and also for distance learning.

"For us the situation was pretty simple.  We have a lot of televisions in Jamaica but we don't have that many computers so the challenge was to make software that was simply more relevant," explained Grayson Alert, one of three partners in Aura Technologies.

Firestream will be allowing a number of young people in Trench Town to study distance learning degree courses from the University College of the Caribbean (UCC).  This after the institution donated $3 million-worth of scholarships to the Agency for Inner-City Renewal (AIR), also based in Trench Town.

"The idea is that when this technology comes on stream you can literally create an 'off-campus' in an area deprived of learning technology such as Internet access," said AIR founder Henley Morgan.

But, beyond all these initiatives, what promises to do the most for Internet access is the Government-run e-Learning project, funded from the levy charged on telephone calls terminating in Jamaica.  Using free Internet access already offered by C&W and now Flow, 120 schools will be hooked up to the project that will combine Internet access, distance learning and the ability to connect with other schools.

Internet and education

According to Education Minister Maxine Henry-Wilson, parental interest in the project should further spread public interest in the Internet and education.

Already the Internet is 'revolutionising' the classroom according to Imani Manning, a 16-year-old student at Kingston High School.  What Imani termed her school's "extremely cumbersome" dial-up service was replaced four months ago by free broadband provided by Flow as part of its islandwide education initiative and is scheduled to be equipped by the e-Learning project later this month.

"As a student progressing in my schoolwork, the need to access information at a quick and efficient rate is of great importance and this is especially important because I am a fifth-form student preparing for CXC examinations," explained the precocious teenager.

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