TSTT promises high-speed broadband in 95% of Tobago

TSTT CEO Lisa Agard has announced that the company recently approved an investment of more than $120 million for an accelerated deployment of fibre infrastructure over the next 18 months, throughout Trinidad and Tobago.

She made the announcement in an address on Monday shortly before presenting a state-of-the-art Huawei IdeaHub to the Speyside Secondary School, Tobago.

The $80,000 digital device, which is intended to enhance the teaching and learning experience at the school, is equipped with a large, high-resolution, touch-sensitive screen with built-in 4K cameras and speakers that can be used as a fully interactive smartphone.

Agard said TSTT’s multi-million dollar investment in fibre infrastructure comes with particularly good news for Tobago.

“We will be building further on our existing fibre infrastructure. The major injection will see fibre passed for another 3,000 homes in communities like Charlotteville, L’Anse Fourmi, Parlatuvier, Castara, Les Coteaux and Moriah. More and more people will now have access to our high-speed service” she said.

Agard said once equipment arrives in the country in the coming months, “We will get to work immediately.”

She said TSTT has been steadily deploying its fibre network in Tobago.

“In the last year alone we passed more than 3,200 homes in communities like Roxborough, Mason Hall, Belle Garden and Kendall. Three thousand, two hundred more households, taking the total to more than 15,000 homes passed in Tobago with fibre connectivity.

"At TSTT, we have been making significant progress in our fibre roll-out.”

The additional build out, Agard said, will take the company’s overall investment in fibre in Tobago over the past few years to over $50 million.

“When this is completed we will have fibre throughout the length and breadth of Tobago, 95 per cent of the island will have coverage. They will be able to connect to our high-speed, high-quality broadband services.”

She boasted, “I can say without fear of contradiction that no other service provider here in Tobago can and will be able to match this. We are on a mission to ensure that all Tobagonians have access to the connectivity tools that are so fundamental to Tobago’s rapidly changing digital world. And we are close to achieving this mission. I say to the others, ‘Let them know that Tobago is TSTT country.”

Referring to the IdeaHub, Agard said sitting in a classroom and listening to a lecture is no longer a sufficient teaching strategy.

Students, she said, require a more interactive learning experience to keep them focused.

Agard said even with the IdeaHub in the classroom, teachers can still write notes on the board virtually.

“The technology makes it feel just like writing with a pen on paper and it’s all digital.”

She added the device will even correct geometric shapes and transcribe handwriting to text.

“An entire lesson can be saved and distributed to students of staff with the touch of a screen.

"It is taking collaboration to the next level.”

Agard told the students that in today’s world, basic digital skills are becoming a requirement for employment, even in jobs classified as low-skilled.

Saying there is a huge global shortage of ICT skills, she added, “ICT skills are therefore your passport to jobs anywhere in the world. TSTT communications infrastructure can also allow you to stay right here in beautiful Speyside and still be recruited by international companies for high-paying jobs.”

Agard said this should be part of their vision and mission.

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine said Speyside Secondary principal Alson Sylvester also spoke.