Mavis Bank receives Wi-Fi

Mavis Bank in St Andrew East Rural now has community Wi-Fi, brought by the Universal Service Fund (USF), which has been enabling community Wi-Fi service at dozens of town centres islandwide.

Speaking during Monday's launch of the facility in Mavis Bank Square, USF's Director of Projects, Jaime Robinson, said that the ongoing initiative is part of the organisation's mandate.

An enthused Member of Parliament (MP), Juliet Holness, noted that the initiative represents a new age for Mavis Bank.

"Persons who are over 70 or 80 who live in the Mavis Bank division will tell you that they didn't know that something called a community Wi-Fi access point would ever exist [in the area] in their wildest dreams and imagination," she said.

"They used to have to go up on the 'buggy' and go down to Papine to do everything... then, they got vehicles. But even with that, they used to have to use our post offices, and post office letters used to take forever. So, we are in a different space and we have to thank USF for that," the MP added.

Holness highlighted the increasing number of opportunities that will redound to residents from the Wi-Fi connectivity, such as the connection of farmers with buyers for their goods, the learning potential for students and the exploits to be gained from the lucrative Airbnb market.