From bus stop to rum shop: has Barbados’ Wi-Fi project been a success?

This is a follow on from our earlier posts on Barbados’ intention to have free Wi-Fi across the entire island by 11-11-11. We examine the progress to date.

In November 2010, the Barbados Entrepreneurship Foundation (BEF) promised to realise 100% island-wide Wi-Fi coverage – from bus stop to rum shop – by 11 November 2011. Implementation relied on the local businesses with Internet connectivity to configure their internal networks to include guest networks allowing free wireless Internet access.

It is now a year since the BEF’s initial announcement. “How has the project (dubbed 11.11.11 ON) fared?” We have been tracking this project since its announcement in mainstream newspapers earlier this year, so we will be answering that question, and providing some insight into its impact.

Has 100% Wi-Fi coverage been achieved?

The short answer is no. Based on the data supplied by the BEF, around 25% geographic coverage has been realised. However, based on the distribution of the population in Barbados, where over two-thirds of its residents live in the west and southern parts of the island, Wi-Fi covers well over 50% of the population (Figure 1). Additionally, the areas of heavy commercial activity, which again are in west and south, including the capital, Bridgetown, are the ones with a heavy concentration of Wi-Fi hotspots. It therefore means that persons on the go in those areas will likelyto be able to maintain near continuous Internet connectivity  More