Business View Caribbean
5
expertise in the hardware field, we got directly into it.
It was a niche market – software development, hard-
ware, and training.”
The company also began assembling its own PCs (Per-
sonal Computers). Graduates from the local state col-
lege were hired using components shipped in from
Miami. “These PCs were locally built and locally sup-
ported – we had all the spare parts along with the
acquired skill set. A product line for the home market
was established, a line for the educational market was
introduced, and one for the commercial market was
produced.” Doumith says. “We grew the company at
a fast pace into every single sector of the market; we
captured over 70 percent of the computer market in
Antigua during that time.”
As clients’ needs for both software and hardware be-
gan to explode exponentially, ACT kept up with the fran-
tic pace. “As the demand for these PCs were growing,
so did the need for internet access. Doumith remem-
bers, “This was 1995-96, and we were configuring
these PCs, getting them to the end users, and allowing
them to have internet access. What we provided com-
plimented one another and, in 1999, we were granted
both the license by the government to be an ISP (Inter-
net Service Provider) and also a license to operate a
VSAT (A Very Small Aperture Terminal - a two-way satel-
lite ground station with a dish antenna). This afforded
us the opportunity to provide more affordable internet
in Antigua. We grew a customer base of three to four
thousand dial-up internet access customers using this
satellite technology along with fiber optic capacity.”
“We invested over 10 million dollars towards the pre-
construction costs to land the fiber optic cable into
