-concerned at amount of cars in Barbados
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has called for scrutiny of telecommunications services amid plans by a provider to increase broadband rates, saying consumers must receive answers about service quality and their rights.
Speaking at the Barbados Labour Party’s 87th annual conference at St George Secondary School on Saturday, Mottley told Minister of Industry, Innovation, Science and Technology Senator Jonathan Reid that an audit might be necessary.
“When the broadband fails, the providers must respond, and if you have to do an audit of the telecom services, just as they want to increase the prices of broadband, do the audit,” she said, according to a video published by Barbados Today.
Mottley cited locations where she had experienced dropped calls and loss of signal, including Highway 2A near Lancaster and sections of the ABC Highway.
“The Fair Trading Commission must examine some of these things and give the country useful answers about consumer rights in Barbados. It can’t only be a one-sided equation,” she said.
In its accompanying report, Barbados Today said the proposed broadband rate increase had sparked public debate.
Mottley also raised concerns about the number of vehicles on the island, saying the issue required national discussion.
“Let me also deliver an inconvenient truth. We have to discuss the number of cars in this country. We will soon have more cars than Bajan adults,” she said.
She put the number of cars at 185,000, compared with an adult population of approximately 220,000.
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