L I R N E . N E T

Participants from policy and regulatory agencies, telecommunications operators and ISPs, the private and public sector, educators and civil society organizations, as well as interested individuals, recently came together, in Trinidad and Tobago, to discuss the potential for mobile Internet technology to promote economic and social development in the Caribbean and to contemplate what is required to create an enabling environment.

These discussions were the focus of the Sixth Caribbean Internet Forum, which took place at the Crown Plaza, Port of Spain from October 29 to 31, 2008. The Forum was organized by the MRP (Telecommunications) programme of The University of the West Indies (UWI), and co-hosted by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU) and the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL).

Click here for the agenda, presentations and other resources.

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The University of the West Indies 2008 graduation ceremony saw the graduation of the third and final cohort of The University of the West Indies Master’s degree in Regulation and Policy (MRP) programme. This programme, which was delivered through the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, offered a specialization in telecommunications intended to meet the challenges of managing liberalization of the sector.

After a year of stakeholder consultations and intensive planning, the MRP (Telecommunications) programme was launched in December 2003, with scholarship support from the Cable and Wireless Virtual Academy. It serviced three cohorts of students through a multidisciplinary two-year programme. Because of the nature of the programme both students and staff came from diverse backgrounds and were widely spread geographically. The programme has over seventy graduates from thirty-two developing countries around the world. Teaching staff and project supervisors contributed to the programme, as experts of the highest calibre in their fields, from the Caribbean, Europe, USA and Africa.
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The 6th Annual Caribbean Internet Forum will be held in Trinidad from 29-31 October at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Port of Spain. The Main theme of the event is Mobile Internet for Development.

Dr. Kim Mallalieu (University of the West Indies and DIRSI member), will chair two sessions, Caribbean Innovations for the Mobile Internet, and Next Generation Policy and Regulation. Dr. Hopeton S. Dunn (Director, TPM Programme, Mona School of Business and DIRSI member), during the latter session will present, Next Generation Policy and Regulation: Key Challenges.

LIRNE.NET founder and advisor, Professor W.H. Melody, will present the conference keynote address.

Click here to go to the CIF 2008 website.

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[16 May 2008] Hopeton Dunn, senior DIRSI researcher and Director of the Programme in Telecommunications Policy and ICT Management, at the Mona School of Business, University of the West Indies, will present “Ringtones of Opportunity: People, Poverty and the Possibilities of Mobile Technologies in Jamaica” at a public seminar to mark the World Telecommunications and Information Society Day (which marks the inception of ITU in 1865).

The event begins at 2:30 pm. For further information, please contact:
tpm [at] uwimona.edu.jm

Click here to download the event flyer (in .pdf).

Kim Mallalieu, DIRSI researcher, organized a stakeholders’ meeting to review findings from the DIRSI Mobile Opportunities study. The meeting, which was held at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Institute of Critical Thinking, brought together invited representatives of key stakeholder groups, including the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago, the Ministry of Public Administration and Information, the Tobago House of Assembly, the Caribbean Telecommunications Union, the Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organizations, the Ministry of Social Development, and The Central Statistical Office.

Click here to download the meeting report.

Other available documents:

• Executive Summary of the Trinidad and Tobago Mobile Opportunities survey
• DIRSI Mobile Opportunities full country reports click here to go to Spanish page for the reports
• Regional Summary of the Mobile Opportunities survey also in Spanish - Oportunidades Móviles: reporte regional

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