Issues and Answers - Quality of Internet Service in Saint Lucia (Sept. 7th 2026)

[music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] >> Welcome to another edition of Issues and Answers, a production of the Government Information Service. I'm Shelton Daniel and our topic for today's program is internet quality in our country. What is the quality of internet service that is available that is being offered provided in St. Lucia and what are the criteria by which we can judge the provision of that service? To help us answer some of these questions, we have with us the president of the National Consumer Association, Dr. Techler Fitz Lewis. Good afternoon and welcome to Issues and Answers, at least since I'm the host, which is the first time. [laughter] Dr. Lewis, >> good afternoon, Mr. Daniel. It's quite a pleasure to be here and thanks for the invitation. >> All right, let me begin by asking you from the perspective or from the standpoint of the consumer, some might refer to them as the enduser, how do you think the quality of internet service, which may well be a very broad term, how do you think it is going to be evaluated? It is going to be assessed, judged, and ultimately expressed as I'm sure your organization might be on the front line of of receiving the reaction of people to how they perceive internet service in the country to be. >> Okay, thanks for that. So, internet service in St. Lucia from the consumer's perspective and I say the consumer's perspective because whenever they have an issue they go to places the national consumer association is one where the expectation does not meet the service paid for and I say expectation and and to experience because you pay for an experience the internet providers their selling point is high-speed internet. >> You cannot pay for high speed and you see reconnecting reconnecting or you have a slow process on your device. Internet service is very important for our economic socioeconomic development when it comes to education when it comes to business e-commerce and e-commerce is a big thing. So of course inter and communications which is very important. So most times you would find the service offered or the service that was advertised is not what the end user would get and that has become a a big problem in St. Lucia. >> Okay. It has often been said that um people do a better job communicating complaints and unhappiness >> right >> than they would you know satisfaction and contentment. So you're more likely to hear protest and complaint about this thing is not good. But if people are happy and satisfied, they probably will not say anything. I I I just want to ask you um from what you have been hearing from the feedback you've been getting as the head of the country's main if not lone consumer rights consumer advocacy body um what sort of um reaction or would you say um assessment of the quality of internet in our country have you been getting what's the vibe on that >> okay whilst we have an exponential increase in complaints from consumers We do not have statistical data that would prove that there is a high volume of persons complaining about internet services and that's why in December 2026 and 2025 the fourth we launched what you call consumer connect. Consumer connect is a software platform that would either be a mobile app or a computer platform where persons can complain about a service. So you have the NTRC where people would complain. >> You have um the center um department of consumer affairs where people would complain. >> Mhm. >> When it comes to internet services because that's our topic. But at the NCAA we would get a plethora of persons coming in complaining about the service that they receive, the speed of the internet, the quality of the internet. Um, sometimes the service has dropped, sometimes you get no service for a day or two and we had that experience about 3 months ago where it was something with the fiber optic >> lines under the sea and people had no service. >> Yes. and persons came to us well my bill was the same but I had no service for a period of time so if we have to assess the service on a scale of 1 to 10 and that's only based on the complaints that we get we would say there is an average of complaints versus persons who are satisfied or who do not have an option and they cope with the service that would be our assessment from the national consumer association perspective >> what are some of the main particular areas that people are not happy with. Is it speed? You mentioned about the high speed. >> Is it the the signal is dropping? Is it that it doesn't seem to be as robust or as stable or as consistent or reliable? If I may just draw from my own little example, one of the things that has perplexed me, not just here, but elsewhere in the Caribbean and the OECS, you you live in a relatively small space or office. you're sitting at this desk or you're in the living room and you're getting what you consider to be a normal or satisfactory um internet signal and service. You get up to go to the kitchen or to go to the bathroom a short distance a few feet away and either the signal has um degraded to a very low weak one or it's lost altogether and people are saying but wait we know you know there are walls there are walls everywhere and trees and why is it that across a few feet the internet so just as one example what would you say is the main gripe or grouse that people have when it comes to the quality of the internet service >> similar to what you said internet service dropping sometimes where you pass on the island um where you would think in this modern day of age there would be cell sites all over the island knowing our topography that's nothing new I mean some strategic planning would be done when internet providers Wi-Fi services offered as to where you would do it that's one problem but the greatest problem is when persons on WhatsApp calls >> when persons are making a WhatsApp call it would drop. So we're not sure if that's a strategy by the tele telecommunication companies to frustrate the end users so that they can use a a a call >> a straight call because it would be in the interest of a tele company >> to have persons use straight calls where they would pay >> for calls up to of course you get bundles but those bundles do not last you for an entire month >> if you do not use them. Right. >> And interestingly, uh, Mr. Daniel, I attended a Kanto conference. That's the Caribbean Association for Network and Telecommunication Organization. And that it was quite a few years ago, and they were discussing how telecommunication companies were actually making a loss with persons using WhatsApp calling. Because think of it, you you pay for your your your data and you use a WhatsApp call versus making an overseas call. Now it has I mean businesses can see a reduction in telephone rates using WhatsApp to communicate with your business partner in Dubai, your business partner in in Germany, in the UK, in the US. So that's something that we should investigate. I'm hoping it's something that NI and NTRC would be having in their conversations. Do the telecommunication companies actually lower the bandwidth >> as a means to discourage WhatsApp calling? M >> do they lower the bandwidth in a means to this to dissuade people from using the internet services that would really help you drive communications or e-commerce but for our consumers these are the areas that they have complained a lot >> calling where you always get the job um dropping the calls or it would say reconnecting reconnecting and you pay for your service if you pay for your service. You have highspeed internet where you can use your Wi-Fi service. That should not be happening. >> All right? >> And if those complaints have been brought to the telecommunication companies, there should be some way that they can deal with it >> because the the problems continue and they remain. >> We'll talk about the dealing with it in a while because I know there's a matter of compensation, you know. Yes. >> You know, my my service goes down, but we'll get to that in a while. However, I I want to ask you in so far as these complaints go, what sense do you get is the predominant sector or side that they're getting from? Is it residential, private or um commercial, public establishments, their internet and so on? Um are they more in in in mobile internet or or or or fixed installation, you know, in internet and so on? who tends to be the most susceptible or vulnerable in terms of these drops and the wobbles you know in in in the in the stability of of the service and the consistency and reliability and so on. do because people have asked the question are they throttling it um for one set of people so that others can get a better shake you know so is the ordinary you know John and Jane getting their internet service squeezed because that is the way to supply others it may not be the correct thing but I I tend not to hear government offices and commercial establishments complaining it's usually the ordinary person on the bus and so on who you hear saying what >> okay so first it's the residential private or individual citizens they are the ones with the most complaints we haven't really gotten complaints to a nature that you have to reach out to the telecommunication to find out what's the issue >> and mainly the mobile customers and if I may also add in our empirical data of persons who complain it's persons who have prepaid They are the most vulnerable. Most of them are the ones who cannot afford a postpaid plan. So they buy a little plan, a 7-day plan or one month plan. >> And those plans are always interrupted. >> They do not get the value for their money in terms of what is packaged in that package sale for them. >> These are the most vulnerable groups that complain to the NCA. Has any reason ever been advanced as to why this is so? Because it would seem to me to suggest that there is a low priority assigned to the people who have um those prepaid plans and so on. >> It's a high priority because do not forget your plan go down, you want to put another top up to get another plan. And if you recognize how the telecommunications have their sale on items, >> the the group that get the most benefit >> would be the prepaid group, you know. >> Okay. How so? Why so? >> Because they are the ones that will always do the top up. I have a postpaid plan. >> So if my post-paid plan goes up to $500 a month, >> and within my plan, I probably only use up $250. That's all I pay. >> Okay. >> But the prepaid people will always have a top up. Mhm. >> They will always put a plan because they they want to achieve a particular communication goal. >> And I suppose their money they are basically gifting it you know you know to the telecom or the service providers up front. It's not a matter of you are now owing them and and you'll settle at the end of the month. You are giving it to them in advance for the next 30 or whatever days and so on. >> And that's more like a cost leadership strategy. M >> for example, if I have five five items at $50 that I want to sell, you come in with a 100 items at $20, you'll sell it before me. >> And that's a cost leadership strategy. The post-paid company um sub um subscribers, they pay at the end of the month. [snorts] The prepaid customers, they come in all month long, all week long, almost every day, every week to put a top up whilst you have to wait for the post-paid customers at the end of the month. And that's why residential, private, individuals, especially those with mobile phones, they are the most vulnerable and they are the ones who have the most complaints. >> All right, you're watching issues and answers on the GIS with me, Shelton Daniel. We're having a special conversation tapping the perspectives of persons who are in the industry or otherwise informed to share their views on the quality of internet service in St. Lucia. And today our guest is Dr. Fitz Lewis, the president of the National Consumers Association. We're about taking a break and uh when we come back we are going to ask Dr. fits risk for her thoughts and by extension the NCA on the matter of compensation for when service falls into some kind of deficiency is not what it's supposed to be. It is interrupted so that the subscriber gets less than what they have signed up for and in the case of prepaid in advance paid for. Don't go away. Interesting parts of this program yet to come. >> What's in the food you're eating? [music] Do you really even know all the chemicals and hormones used to accelerate [music] their growth? All the artificial flavoring, sweeteners and [music] colors, too. We consume and we don't spare a thought for the damage that they'll do. [music] >> Think about the children. How will we save them? Chemicals and GMOs [music] are not the solution. Use organic enjoy [singing] modified foods are harmful to health and the environment. Join the good food [music] revolution. Grow, buy and consume organic. A message from Ry St. Lucia and the Ministry of Sustainable Development with funding from the GEF Small Grants Program. UNDP. Good food reolution. [music] [singing] >> The quality of internet service in St. Lucia. Are we contented or do we have complaints? Are we satisfied or are we unhappy? In any case, how do we define? How do we judge quality? That's part of the conversation that we hope to bring in multiple parts on this subject. Our guest today to help us with this on issues and answers is the president of the National Consumer Association, Dr. Techler Fitz Lewis. Dr. Liz, before the break, I promise that we'll talk on the matter of compensation. Whether we look at it from post-paid, prepaid or whatever, if the internet service is down, if it is less than what it is supposed to be, the amount of megabits per second, the speed factors and so on, the download um doesn't go, it seems to me that there ought to be a sort of sophistication in those ISPs, internet service providers, to be able to immediately detect and calculate and to see whether they can tell people, you know, um we're giving when you're off $3 or or two cents, whatever because the service we know was not what it was up to speed. We we don't hear this happening. The only time I think some offer was made was when we had this major outage that you spoke about recently where it was said that a submarine fiber optic cable between Antigga and Dominica um got damaged and and it affected but apart from that you pay the full rack rate. the bill comes in just the same and you got to pay whatever the plan or subscription is for regardless of what was actually delivered. Am I right on this or not? You are right because um whilst there are consumer protection and regulatory mechanisms um that protects consumers or some of them are relevant um I think we need to distinguish between an automatic refund for customers when these things happen and a consumer's right to seek redress because we have had cases that we had to refer to the department of commerce um where there was communication between the end user and the ISP um to determine a refund and that had to go to mitigation which should not be so. So I think the legislation I'm not sure to what extent that the NT um NTRC ensures that the ISP refunds person but it's not automatic. M >> it should be automatic if you cannot provide a service or the service has been interrupted. The major interruption persons were refunded. >> I mean it was national it was all over the place. It was not only Susha but generally persons should re receive refund if you cannot give them the service >> or if their service has been interrupted and it has been proven that's not automatic. >> So you you will only get it if you go and submit a claim. if you go and make a complaint about >> and not even if you go and submit. I have seen claims that have gone to >> um an ISP and they did not even give the customer the courtesy of a response >> and as a result it had to go to litigation. What are some of the areas of our economic and other development that you um believe? We want to take a if possible positive view of things that have been impacted and benefited um from the internet that we have enjoyed which I suppose has progressively grown because we heard a lot of um talk especially in the last two decades about the knowledge based economy the informatic sector ICT and and and and those kinds of things >> um being heavily dependent on internet so the provision of a good quality um service was important have we have we seen that are we seeing evidence of that in our country? >> Yes, we've seen evidence of it all over. Let's start with education. >> Mhm. >> Um persons can pursue higher learning through a hybrid process. >> Um is e-b businessiness. I mean everybody and then then now others online. So you have an increase in online shopping, you have education, you have business, you have agriculture, um you have tourism, you know, so internet service providers have really allowed St. Lucian's consumers of their service to progress both socio and economically. Um communications have increased. Um whereas before you had to write a letter to a family member in England that took about 5 days if you did it express or 2 weeks if it went normally. Now with a flick of the button you can order things either for business or for personal and some of them would take two days when you use the skybox. So internet services for us has really been a positive. I think the positives outweigh the negatives. >> All right. Okay. This is uh very encouraging I'm sure. Yes. Um for many people uh but but then again um >> you know >> if there is any justification in some thinking that we may have dropped the ball or we may have not really held up as we should. Um what do you think are some of the areas that could be adversely affected? And I don't know if you can point to some areas where you say, well, if we had kept up, you know, the momentum in terms of our internet quality and service, we may have made more progress in that and so on. I'm just asking because we must never allow ourselves to be satisfied to the extent that we could become complacent. Uh, but do you think our our internet quality is one in which we could push a little harder to achieve some bit more? >> We could, especially in some communities on island. There are some communities that really do not enjoy the benefit of internet services like others. Um I believe there can be more cell sites >> um around the island. Um another benefit I I forgot to mention was financial services. I think um conducting financial service transactions have really improved in St. Lucia. can see what's what's happening on your account. You can make a payment very easily. Now you can actually download a either credit card or debit card on your phone without having the presence of the card to do business. >> But I believe >> and I suppose internet services that is is is is the supporting technology now that you can go to any gas station and you don't have to physically count out money debit card. >> Very important, >> right? Because Yeah. But of course I believe that security of the services is just as important because now you have the hackers who can hack even >> okay >> a a an email address given to you by an ISP. >> Right. Right. Right. >> So it has its pros and it has its cons. So I believe they should have more protection when it comes to internet and its services >> to ensure that users >> can enjoy the benefit without having to wonder should I use that platform because it will be hacked. >> The convenience of tap and pay I understand there other people who can pass without you realizing and they can tap you and you don't >> or if you lose your card they can just tap it. >> Right. Finally um Dr. [clears throat] Fitz Lewis um it's probably a question that may not be um too much up your alley but give it the shot um that you can is a matter of investments in internet um what kind of once again feedback are you getting in terms of the investments that are being made in ensuring that we get a high quality internet service and so on. Some people believe we need more investments but then who should lead those investments? Is it private sector? Is it government? Is it a public private partnership to make sure you know that when we hear 5G or 6G or 7G that we don't have to wait like third world you know how many a decade down the line before we advance in it just throwing that around investments in in internet >> okay I believe we should have more um fiber optic penetration that's very important >> I did a little research on ectel um prior to coming and it says that current evidence support the case for further upgrading because Ectel's 2024 digital inclusion survey found that 80.2% of St. Lucian's um households with internet access were actually using cable modern technology that's 80.2%. >> Wow. >> So while 14.8 8 reported fiber to the house. Why is fiber to the house so low? >> Fiber to the house is less combusting. Um if there is a hurricane, the cable would would be damaged quicker than the fiber because you know your fiber passing pipes under the ground etc. So I believe more investment could be done in that >> and I do not see everything being a reliance on government. It can be a public private partnership >> but I believe when you look at the financial records >> um profit and loss accounts of telecommunication companies they can invest more in the country. >> Okay, >> they have been a cash cow for some time now and I believe they can do more investment in their fiber optic cable and replace them because you and that's was that was from ectel so it's not NCA's survey you have only 80.2 too um with households with internet service that uses cable modern technology. >> Okay. And I think recognizing the importance of what you have said, it's not too long ago that an OECS prime minister, not ours, but another um did indicate his government's intention to make a substantial investment in um acquiring submarine or subc fiber optic cable to ensure greater reliability and capacity and and to work if necessary with the private sector on that. Thank you so very much Dr. Techler Fitz Lewis, the president of the National Consumer Association, for sharing with us your perspectives on this very interesting subject of the quality of internet service. Is it meeting our development needs and priorities in education, in informatics, in the knowledge based economy, in ICT, in so many of the other areas that have been identified that it can be a gamecher for us and let's hope we continue to see progress in that regard. >> Thank you. Issues and Answers is a production of the Government Information Service. I'm Shelton Daniel, your host, and we hope to continue this conversation with other resource persons, other persons who have had the experience, have had um time in the industry and in positions that they can share with us their viewpoints on this matter. We appreciate you being part of the conversation. For now, goodbye. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. [music]