Basseterre, St. Kitts (SKNIS): The National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) within the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis signed a contract with The Cable for the St. Kitts Health Services ICT Project, Friday, June 2, 2023.
The St. Kitts Health Services ICT Project will be funded by the Universal Service Fund (USF). The contract was awarded to St. Kitts-Nevis Communications Ltd (The Cable) after an open competitive bidding process.
The project, which is worth 3.3 million dollars, consists of two components: one, to supply, install and commission a Wide Area Network (WAN) between the Joseph N. France General Hospital and the other seventeen (17) health facilities, and the training of persons who will be involved in the operations of the network, and two, the provision of the internet for a five year period.
Director of the NTRC, Ervin Williams said, “We are here today to sign a contract under the framework of the Universal Service fund.” He added, “This fund is a fund that is contributory by telecommunications providers in which they provide one percent of their gross annual revenue to the fund.”
“The fund under the regulatory framework is a special vehicle in that the fund is used to provide telecommunication services, cutting edge technologies in the areas of public health, public education, public safety and public security among other things,” he said.
Mr. Williams also stated that the task is in keeping with the objectives of the government of providing cutting-edge technology within the healthcare sector.
Chief Executive Officer of the Cable, Patricia Walters said, “This is a long time coming and it has taken a tremendous effort from everybody, but we are pleased to be here at this stage right now.”
“Today is a proud day for the management and staff of The Cable because we stepped up and submitted a bid for this ground-breaking project and the independent decision makers were satisfied that we have the experience, we have the resources and we have the knowledge to deliver such a project,” she said,
Chairman of the Board of Directors for Cable, Russell Halbert, also added that “I can assure that being chairman of the board that under my watch that we will not only give him an A but an A+ network to be handed over to the Ministry of Health.”