Budget Speech 2011 - Government of Grenada

• Reduced cost of IT services. It is expected that significant IT cost
savings (of 15 – 20 percent) will be realized beginning at the start
of the third full year of the new company’s operation.
• Reduced IT capital expenditure as several capital equipment with
unused capacity can be shared with other customers.
• Increased productivity as a result of improved responsiveness,
improved network performance, increased system uptime and
improved quality of service.
• Improved communication within Government.
Request for Proposals will be solicited in early March and a partner selected
by the end of May. The transition is expected to take approximately 3–5
months and the new company is expected to be operational by October of
2011.
C@RIBNET
The United States, Europe, Asia, Latin America and now Africa are all
connected and are part of the world’s global education and knowledge
network. Grenada and the rest of the Caribbean are not.
This lack of connectivity constrains the development prospects of our
region in education and innovation and must be addressed as matter of
urgency.
In July 2006, at the 27th meeting of the Conference of Heads of Government
of CARICOM, it was agreed that a regional network named C@ribNET
be developed connecting all participating members of the community to
the rest of the world and that the Caribbean Knowledge and Learning
Network Agency (CKLNA) be established to implement and manage the
network.
C@ribNET presents Grenada and other CARICOM countries with an
opportunity to connect with and to leverage the world’s knowledge pool.
The initial cost of this project is EC$35 million.
2011 Budget Statement Page 53