INTERNET CONNECTION DOWN AGAIN!

Seychelles is fast becoming a country which is difficult to do business quickly and efficiently because of inconsistent and poor internet connectivity. On the 11th and the 12th December 2007 consecutively several businesses such as offshore centers and internet café lost tens of thousands of rupees and foreign exchange as internet connection came to a standstill yet again.

This problem is becoming increasingly endemic and is causing embarrassment and inconvenience not only to government but also to the private sector as well. As the government has recently announced plans to introduce a stock exchange and to develop a financial services sector to compliment the other sectors of the economy, our internet connectivity is arguably the biggest stumbling block to rapid and dynamic development of the finance sector. Whereas countries in the Caribbean, such as the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands, have been quick to invest in fibre optic undersea cables and are raking in billions of dollars annually with their financial services, Seychelles is yet to follow suit.

When Mr. Conrad Benoiton made his representation of the Hedge Funds and Mutual Funds Bill, Insurance Bill and other prospective legislations in the National Assembly recently to spearhead Seychelles into the realm of massive revenues from this promising sector, Mr. Frank Elizabeth argued that without proper investment in infrastructure, Seychelles will not realize its true potential. Commenting on Mr. Elizabeth’s concern, Mr. Benoiton admitted that without proper and adequate investment in the appropriate infrastructure such as fast internet connectivity through undersea fibre optic cable, the country will remain at a disadvantage vis-à-vis our Caribbean counter-parts as well as Mauritius.

Mauritius and other countries in the region such as Kenya has made investment in the necessary infrastructure in a bid to capture the lion share of the market as investments continue to trickle down in the region consistently every year. Mr. Benoiton said that he has raised this concern with the cabinet and the government has agreed to initially invest in satellite dishes to capture internet signals rather than in the undersea fibre optic cable. He admitted that satellite dishes are not as good as the fibre optic cable but said that the initial investment is considerably less.

However, common sense dictates that before legislations are passed to launch our financial services sector as the third pillar of the economy, the government should as far as reasonably possible invest in infrastructure and the latest technology in order to give our country a competitive edge over our competitors. Otherwise, we will always be running after our competitors who benefit tremendously from their countries’ investment in the necessary hardware and modern and sophisticated technology. Mr. Benoiton also stated that according to preliminary research conducted it is generally agreed that in 10 to 15 years time the financial services sector will surpass tourism in terms of revenue that it will bring into the country. Surely this is enough reason, if reason was needed, for considerable investment to be made in this sector of the economy. It is the only way Seychelles will realize its full potential as a top investment hub in the region if not the world!