Inet completes ‘Fibre to the Home initiative.

Antigua and Barbuda created history again, after its sole utility provider, APUA became the first local entity to operate a fixed fiber network in the region.

This week, APUA, which stands for Antigua and Barbuda Public Utilities Authority, announced the completion of its fixed fiber network, dubbed “Fibre to the Home”

General Manager of APUA Esworth Martin says the accomplishment could not have been possible without Prime Minister Gaston Browne

He said the project is the most significant pursuit in the life of the organization after nearly two years in the making, seeing INET customers upgrade their household internet from DSL to 4G LTE fibre optic cables, offering speed nearly 200 times faster than before.

Meanwhile, Minister with responsibility for public utilities, Sir Robin Yearwood, said APUA boasts of being the only company said “owned by the people, for the people, in the OECS that has reached the heights that APUA/INET has been able to reach,” he said

Prime Minister Gaston Browne was also present at the event. He spoke about the ABLP’s plans to put APUA on the Eastern Caribbean Securities Exchange (ECSE).

“So, we will corporatize it and then list it on the Eastern Caribbean Exchange so that the workers here and Antiguans and Barbudans, in general, could buy shares…so, the next level of APUA’s ECSE operation could see APUA becoming a listed company so you could borrow cheaper. We had established from the onset that the provision of broadband services to every home in this country is a public good, just as important as the provision of water or electricity,” Browne said.