With the deadline for closing out its federal grants coming up, V.I. Next Generation Network board members discussed Thursday what’s being done to wrap up work on the government’s territorywide broadband initiative, including the opening of an additional three public computer centers and the completion of testing at each island’s fiber access points.
At viNGN’s monthly board meeting on St. Thomas, network officials spoke about a recent visit from National Telecommunications and Information Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration representatives. The visit “went well,” according viNGN’s chief executive officer, Lawrence Kpufer, who said his team has 90 days after June 30 to complete the close-out on most of the federal grants that have funded the project.
“We were also able to tour all three islands and visit a lot of the locations where the network is up and running, and speak with people at those anchor institutions,” Kpufer said.
Going over specific work being funded through each of the network’s four grants, viNGN sales and marketing leader, Kevin Hughes, also said that the team responsible for driving the opening of the territory’s public computer centers has “successfully achieved its goal” of opening 28 centers throughout the three islands.
“This is a huge win for us,” Hughes said. “We’re demonstrating to the federal government that we’re promoting broadband, using and continuing with our digital literacy program. We’ve met our goal but we’re also going to open some additional sites so we can make sure the territory is able to take full advantage of the network,” he said.
Three additional PCCs will be opening, Hughes said, bringing the total number of sites to 31.
Last year, viNGN announced its partnership with BetterWorld/Connectspace.vi and advertised 80 new work at home jobs available for local residents. Other opportunities have since been publicized and, during Thursday’s meeting, Kpufer said the company is going to see how to “keep the program going and get additional telenetwork jobs in the territory.”
Kpufer also said that 1,777 residents have completed the eight-week “Digital Literacy Training” course offered by viNGN at the public computers centers, which introduces general computer and Internet skills. The course was made available through a partnership with viNGN, CyberLearning Inc. and the National Education Foundation. At the end of the training, participants receive a certificate issued by the State University of New York.
After earning their certificates, users have also been able to access other training courses and Kpufer said Thursday that viNGN has seen an increase in the numbers of residents looking at those courses offered for Microsoft or CISCO certification. Residents can continue to take the courses for free up to May 31 and, after that, viNGN is going to look at how long it can keep the program going.
One of the largest grants goes toward funding the actual construction of the broadband network, and Kpufer announced Thursday that the final connections between local fiber access points and their anchor institutions are being made. Right now, eight of the 28 fiber access points have power, but a majority is expected to be turned on by Friday so testing can begin, he said. After that, more anchor institutions will start lighting up, and residents will start to see more connectivity to the Internet outside the super fiber access point sites.
