EDITOR’S NOTE: Early in March, #InfrastruCaribe featured information and communication technology infrastructure in the Caribbean in our edition 2021-03-16. This newsletter does the same, as we continue our series on utilities, which started mid April with our edition 2021-04-23. Besides the headline, two of our five articles are on the Caribbean in general and the remaining two on the Cayman Islands.
Our headline, taken from the Jamaica Observer, reads: “Caribbean Express Coming To Jamaica”. American telecoms development firm — Ocean Networks — has announced that Jamaica will be included as a landing point in its Caribbean Express project: the build out of an 18-fibre pair submarine cable from the U.S. state of Florida to Panama.
Otherwise, IDB has announced a new US$3.5-billion multi-year Build Forward initiative to advance technology and resilience in the Caribbean. Also, Microsoft and Tech Beach have partnered to launch the Digital Native Companies (DNC) programme in the Caribbean, to enable local entrepreneurs to develop their business in the cloud while expanding globally.
In Cayman, their utilities regulator — OfReg — has signed its first internet exchange point (IXP) licence with SALT Wireless, a subsidiary of the SALT Technology group, who claims internet connectivity on the island will improve. Eleven days earlier, OfReg, had stated it was drafting a regulatory framework by which local IXPs could be regulated.