Croes: UTS / Flow does not provide free internet to schools

WILLEMSTAD - Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport (OWCS) Steven Croes says that UTS / Flow does not provide free internet to schools. "UTS already supplies internet to schools before the takeover. That was not free, and it is still not entirely," says Croes.

After the sale of UTS in March 2019, the Ministry received an offer from UTS / Flow in September 2019 in which internet was offered for free for only one year, with insufficient bandwidth for digital education.

Since UTS had already been sold at that time, the Ministry of OWCS then decided to approach the two local providers, namely UTS and Digicel, by means of a tender so that the best value for money would be obtained, according to Croes.

The government pays Digicel an undisclosed amount for the provision of internet to the 118 schools in Curaçao.

Two years ago, UTS / Flow contractually committed to providing "free" internet to all schools, said UTS / Flow board member Rauf Engels in the media.

The internet at school is actually nothing new, he says. In fact, UTS - then as a public company - has been providing free internet to school institutions since 2011. However, as everywhere in the world, the need for more and more bandwidth has grown and will continue to grow.




Share