Skip to main content

20 years of tech in Trinidad and Tobago

Image
By
I have been a part of the tech space locally for many years now as a consumer, tech graduate, coder and tech blogger. In my youtube video I describe the tech space in Trinidad and Tobago as developing. We have good internet infrastructure and plenty tech graduates. We have ample examples of tech being used to better our lives. We are developing and there is much room for improvement. I returned to Trinidad in 2003 after studying and working abroad. A lot has happened locally in the almost last 20 years since. I want to point out some of these happenings that come to my mind and share some of my thoughts.

Liberisation of the telecoms sector is the first thing that comes to mind. I remember rushing to the Croisee in San Juan to buy that Nokia flip phone from Digicel on launch day. This brought options, lower prices and investment in upgrades over the years. Eventually we had the launch of 4G that brought tears of joy to my eyes. The proliferation of smart phones in Trinidad happened and as a tech blogger I covered many Samsung launches. When covid hit us, work from home and online schooling put our internet and digital inclusion to the test. In 2008 there was talk of TTEC offering broadband over powerlines. Nothing has come of this and I sent an email today to find out more. Having good infrastructure is one thing but making use of this is another. Who remembers Caribbean Free Radio? It was the first podcast in the Caribbean. It was a big deal for me and I always saw a need for us to be producers and not only consumers. 

Over the years we had a good amount of tech startups like WiPay, F1RST and Fooddrop. We even had the I2I competition to encourage persons to get started. Have you noticed the numerous ride sharing apps we have had over the years? Trinis are wanting convenience and comfort that tech can facilitate and there is much opportunities for tech startups. The coming of Uber to Trinidad was a celebrated moment. What about the coming of the first Tesla in Trinidad. My blog post on that had crossed 30,000 views. Something that is common place now is online banking. There was a time when we had to go to the ATM to check balance.

The Trinidad and Tobago Internet Governance Forum has been happening yearly for the past few years and has been a good way for us to brainstorm topics. Similarly the Trinidad and Tobago Computer Society, has been a significant part of the local tech scene over the years and from the earlies; From the lively mailing list discussions to the pizza limes to the Software Freedom Day events. Mark Lyndersay's tech column has been around all these years and provides education and insight.

The launch of the Ministry of Digital Transformation was a huge deal. I had been asking for a Minister of Technology for many years. One of the things we should not lose sight of is work from home and online schooling. We have the internet and we can get devices to students. The laptop for every student program was a headline moment. We should learn from that and continue the work to bridge the digital divide. We should learn from the last 20 years. We have to keep up with the rapidly changing and advancing tech world. We have IoT, big data, AR and robotics among other things that we can make use of. Looking forward to another 20 years of tech in Trinidad and Tobago.
Labels:

Comments

Mark said…
Thanks for the mention in your post.
I agree with the coming of Digicel as a key point of change, introducing aggressive competition into the telecommunications sector and sparking a revolution in how the customer was served in this country.
The arrival of acceptably fast mobile broadband, up to and including 4G was another leveraging factor, moving internet access from being tied to a device in a space to becoming a pervasive presence in the society. It's had a major impact on the practice of journalism for sure, something that seemed obvious right from the introduction of the early 3G services.
I count also the first removal of taxes from computing devices as a big deal, making it possible for people to consider importing their own systems rather than settling for what was available on store shelves.
Despite its poor implementation, the first major distribution of computers into the school system was, I believe, a big deal, something that we are still to understand the impact of.
Unfortunately there have been so many missed and bungled opportunities, most of them masquerading under political announcements that led to nothing and even more that were privately discussed in governance that never saw the light of day, even as cheerful announcements from political podiums.
October 9, 2022 at 3:10 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Talking to God

By
If you want real answers to things in life then talk to God. It is 639pm on a holiday and I have decided to write. God listens. God truly listens. God has the entire context. God is wise. God wants us to talk to Him. God wants us to rely on Him. I also think about God talking to me. I am a good listener. I listen plenty more than I talk. I have started asking God to talk to me. But how would God talk to me? We have his revelations through the holy book. We have the example of prophets. But what else? How do I listen to what God has to say? Where and when can I hear God? Are my thoughts from God? I try to feed my mind with good things. Things that will not corrupt my mind. It seems that we have to use our intuition to separate what is from God and what is not from God. My friend Chatty says that in Islam, Allah speaks to us not through new revelations or voices, but through guidance: the Quran and the Sunnah, which become personally meaningful through understanding Allah places in the h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Life on Earth

By
I was reading through the Quran and came to the story of Adam, Eve, Satan, and the forbidden fruit tree. I had thought that life on Earth was created as a test. But as I reflected on the story, I began to wonder whether we are only here because Adam and Eve failed. However, that is not the case, as my friend Gemini explained to me. While the story of the forbidden fruit is a central event, the Quran indicates that humanity’s presence on Earth was part of the original divine plan, rather than a backup plan or a punishment for sin. Before Adam was even created, God announced His intention to place a steward (khalifah) on Earth. This suggests that the Garden was a temporary training ground—designed to teach Adam and Eve about free will, temptation, and the path of repentance. Even if they had not eaten from the tree, they were destined for Earth to fulfill their roles as moral agents. The incident simply served as a necessary first lesson in human frailty and God’s immediate forgiveness. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The success of failure

By
It is 358am and I have decided to write. Context matters. Our context matters when we write and read. We could read the same thing and get different meanings. Definitions matter also. We may define things differently. For example, what is success? What is failure? Also, do I just define success and say that anything that is not success is failure? What about something like the success of failure? What does that mean? My friend Chatty tells me that this is something writers, philosophers, and even scientists keep rediscovering: meaning is not fixed—it is negotiated by context and definition. Life is a stew of success and failure and in between but never one or the other. We see what we are looking for and things become what we see. This reminds me of something I came across online, "Whoever looks for the good qualities in others will acquire all good qualities within himself," from Habib Umar Bin Hafiz. Do you look for failure or success within others? Take context as the lens...
Post a Comment
Read more