Dr. Andre Haughton
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Opposition spokesperson on Technology Dr. Andre Haughton
By Kimone Witter
Shadow spokesperson on Technology Dr. Andre Haughton has recommended the establishment of a Special Task Force that will develop measures for the protection of the telecommunications sector.
Dr. Haughton, emphasizing that the matter is one of national security, says the dedicated team would work with telecoms providers to implement stronger security measures to prevent vandalism and improve emergency response times for infrastructure repairs.
The call comes in response to the recent deliberate destruction of critical network infrastructure, which caused widespread outage on Digicel and Flow's network, leaving many businesses and households without connectivity.
Speaking Tuesday on TVJ's Smile Jamaica, Dr. Haughton suggested the use of drone technology to protect the telecoms infrastructure, while at the same time creating employment.
"We are proposing as well to establish a system where we use $5 million to buy 2,800 drones and these drones will be 200 per parish, and we'll grid up each parish and will have 2,800 drone operators per shift - three shifts per day."
He noted that this would produce almost 10,000 jobs while upskilling these people as high-tech drone operators to monitor the country's airspace.
Dr. Haughton is also in support of harsher penalties for cable theft and vandalism, which Telecommunications Minister Daryl Vaz has said will be addressed through legislation that has already been drafted and will be brought to Parliament soon.
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