The Cheddi Jagan Inter-national Airport (CJIA) and the Eugene F Correia International Airport should be equipped with better, free WiFi for the public by the end of this year, according to Floyd Levi, Head of the National Data Management Authority (NDMA).
“It is our intention to have free internet service at the two airports… what I can say is that the plans are in the pipeline and were are working on it,” Levi told Stabroek News in a recent interview.
He explained that they are currently laying fire optic cables in the vicinity of the airports and once that is completed they would be able to put in the additional infrastructure and have the airports internet-ready.
The vision, he said, is a part of President David Granger’s vision for all public buildings to have free WiFi. Granger had outlined his vision during the opening ceremony of Heritage celebrations at Mainstay/Whyaka, in Region Two last year.
Levi said it is expected that high speed internet would be available at all public buildings. “It would be very good quality service,” he stated.
Recently, outgoing passengers have complained about not being able to access a reliable internet service while they wait in the departure lounge at the CJIA.
Stabroek News was told that the internet service had been off for some time at the airport. “You could have seen the internet showing up but when you try to connect to it, it wasn’t allowing you. My phone was saying unable to connect or sometimes it showed no internet connection when it did connect,” a recent traveller told this newspaper.
This sentiment was echoed by many other passengers.
On a visit to the airport by this newspaper earlier this month, persons in the departure lounge said that there was no internet service. At the temporary arrivals section, passengers said there was no internet service as well.
Stabroek News was later told that the possibility of no internet connection could have resulted from the fact that the airport is under construction and the works may have caused the disruption.
At the Eugene F Correia airport, there is no free WiFi in place for the public. The reason for this is unknown.
