WITH AT least three entities now vying for cellular phone licences, while monopoly Cable & Wireless (C&W) moves to consolidate its operations in anticipation of stiff competition, a new player has stepped into the fray with the intention of revolutionising information delivery.
WIISCOM Technology, headed by Barbadian Keith Walker, has already secured a 'fixed wireless network' licence from Government and in a few months will begin offering a range of services, including 'video on demand', which would allow every household with a television set to 'view any movie ever made 24 hours a day' without leaving home.
According to Walker, they will also cut drastically the cost of local Internet access, while doubling the speed at which most net users now communicate, while providing every household with the ability to have homes monitored by security camera or motion detectors. "We're going to do more than that," he added. "Once we get going we will offer our customers access to a portable mini-computer, which would allow them to stand at a bus stop and access the Internet, and perhaps watch a movie while waiting for the bus. WIISCOM is also planning, once the second stage of telecommunication deregulation occurs in December this year, to offer regular home telephone services using its wireless technology at a fraction of the cost of the domestic phone service provided now by C&W Bartel.
"We intend to change the way telecommunications business has been carried on in this country for decades," Walker said. "We will be offering 'always-on Internet access' at 128 kilobits. To put this in perspective, 98 per cent of all Internet users in Barbados connect at 56k, but in effect only a fraction actually communicate at that speed.
"We will also stimulate the market by providing a free computer to every customer who signs up for two of our services; and it will not be any cheap computer either. The computer will come with a motherboard from Epox, a company that has won more awards than any other motherboard manufacturer."
WIISCOM plans to provide its customers with hardware and a wireless keyboard to connect the television to the computer to allow unhindered movie viewing via the Internet. The systems, he said, had already been tested and the service covered under the licence issued.
The company will also be providing complete wireless communication links for organisations that operate from different locations, allowing for computers, telephones and other devices to be connected without cables on what they refer to as 'private lines'.
The company has already spoken to some sporting bodies, concert promoters and professionals and organisations to allow instant access to the Internet for their events and information.
While Walker declined to identify financial backers, he noted that Air2lan, an American company, was already firmly entren-ched in the business, while a number of international companies had signed on to provide their technology for the venture.
The company will roll out its services islandwide from the start and will undertake to provide services within two days to all persons who sign up. WIISCOM is 'conservatively projecting' it will have 2,000 customers by the end of the first year and 'a very large percentage' of the existing Internet market by the end of 2003.
Taken from the web sit of the Nation newspaper.
