Caribbean Needs Stronger, Deeper Regional Technical Community

PHILIPSBURG, St Maarten—Even with its minor geographical footprint, the Caribbean has a major appetite for the Internet. More and more, Caribbean citizens are reflexively heading online to do their everyday essentials. In order to keep pace with that digital predilection, the modest community managing the region’s networks has to keep building serious capacity.

“There has to be a deeper pool of human resources in the Caribbean with technical expertise,” says Bevil Wooding, co-founder of the Caribbean Network Operators Group (CaribNOG).

“More people with less technical knowledge are using Internet-based technology, trusting that it will be safe. And so, a group of people have to ensure that that trust is well founded.”

Wooding was speaking at the opening of CaribNOG’s twelfth regional meeting, held at Sonesta Great Bay Resort, Philipsburg from October 24 to 26.

“We have to secure the region’s networks and look out for threats in different ways now that we are at this stage of the Internet’s development. And that’s why a group like CaribNOG is so important at this time. We become the guardians of the Caribbean’s Internet development.”

CaribNOG 12 is part of Internet Week Sint Maarten, a five-day conference focused on developing the Caribbean Internet. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) jointly held the first three days of the week with CaribNOG.

“When we started working to develop capacity in the region, we soon realised that CaribNOG had the same goals, and so we quickly decided that by working together, we could accomplish more,” said Albert Daniels, Senior Manager of Stakeholder Engagement for the Caribbean at ICANN.

Daniels was one of several regional experts to conduct hands-on sessions on topics including cyber security, Internet governance, IPv6 adoption and Internet exchange points.

The three-day gathering is supported by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union; the American Registry for Internet Numbers; Packet Clearing House; ArkiTechs and The BrightPath Foundation.

Internet Week Sint Maarten will close with Sint Maarten on the Move, a two-day event jointly hosted by the Internet Society (ISOC) and the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses registry (LACNIC).

The weeklong conference is coordinated by the St Maarten telecommunications regulator, BTP. It is open to the public and free of charge, with a live video stream for remote participants.

LACNIC On The Move Rolls Into DR, As Santo Domingo Hosts Internet Week

Tech experts from Latin America and the Caribbean will gather in Santo Domingo this month for one of the most highly anticipated meetings of the region’s Internet community. LACNIC On The Move, a meeting organised by the Internet Registry for Latin America and the Caribbean (LACNIC), will open a weeklong conference expected to bring together representatives from several international bodies working to grow the global Internet.

“The Internet is for everyone,” said Oscar Robles, CEO of LACNIC, the organisation responsible for assigning Internet number resources in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“When LACNIC was created, average Internet penetration in Latin America was about 10 to 15 per cent. Today, this figure has grown to 55.9 per cent. Our goal is to connect the 44 per cent of Latin Americans who still aren’t connected to the Internet.”

LACNIC On The Move is free of charge and open to the public. It runs from August 22 to 23 at Barceló Hotel.

“A big attraction of events like these is the prospect of networking with like-minded technology professionals from across the region. These meetings bring together several key players in the global ecosystem of Internet governance,” said Kevon Swift, Head of Strategic Relations and Telecommunications at LACNIC.

A parallel event, AMPARO, will run from August 22 to 24. AMPARO is a closed workshop aimed at technical staff of government institutions in the Dominican Republic and members of LACNIC. It is part of an ongoing initiative by LACNIC to strengthen the security capacity of the regional Internet community.

“We promote the construction of an open, stable, and secure Internet at the service of the economic, social, and cultural development of Latin America and the Caribbean,” Swift said.

Both events are being held as part of the weeklong celebration of the 25th anniversary of the .do domain, organised by the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra, through the .do domain registration office (NIC.DO).

Called Internet Week, the event is jointly organised by the Telecommunications Authority of the Dominican Republic (INDOTEL), the Organization of ccTLDs of Latin America and the Caribbean (LACTLD), Dominican Republic Chapter of the Internet Society (ISOC RD), and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN).

LACNIC has provided training to some 15,000 technology professionals throughout the region, through in-person forums, online centres and collaborative initiatives with other organisations, such as LACTLD, ISOC and ICANN.

“The collaboration between LACNIC and other important actors in the global Internet community plays a key role in enhancing the technical and security capacity of the region,” said César Diaz, Head of Strategic Relations and Telecommunications at LACNIC.

A Technical Forum organised by LACTLD will bring together domain name organisations in the region for two days of cooperation and exchange of information and experiences on August 22 to 23 .

Also on August 23, a public Internet Governance Forum organised by ISOC RD is intended to sensitise all Internet users to their right to participate in the formation of public policies that promote the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of all people throughout the world.

On August 24 to 25, ICANN will host an open forum on the global Domain Name System, focusing on the Latin America and Caribbean market.

Caribbean Dividends From Digital Switchover

A shift from analog to digital television broadcast in the Caribbean could be a big boost for local content creators looking to produce and distribute original programs.

Free, analog, over-the-air television broadcasting has already been replaced by digital television transmission is several parts of the world. The process, commonly referred to as the digital switchover, is now underway in the Caribbean and the successful transition in other parts of the world provides several lessons that can be applied to the Caribbean. As a region, Europe was among the early adopters. From as early as December 2006, the Netherlands moved to digital-only television broadcasting. Today, in several countries worldwide, including USA, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Ghana and Kenya, broadcasters are now required to transmit exclusively in a digital format.

As with all technological advancement, digital switchover is not without potential complications. It could entail unwanted consequences like confusing or even marginalising those unfamiliar with the technology In Singapore, for example, groups of volunteers have taken to making weekly house visits to assist the elderly to transition to digital television.

But the transition from analog to digital is inevitable and produces many clear benefits. This is in part because digital television makes much more efficient use of scarce broadcast spectrum, the radio frequencies used for wireless communication.

By migrating television broadcasters to digital formats, governments can create opportunities to reallocate the radio spectrum frequencies formerly assigned to those transmissions. That released spectrum creates what is called a digital dividend that can be reallocated to critical telecommunications projects, such as nationwide emergency broadcast systems, national wireless broadband access projects  and other such initiatives.

However, in the Caribbean, where the supply of spectrum still outstrips current demand, there is much work to be done. Making the business case for the digital switchover requires a blend of foresight and ingenuity.

“Television broadcast bands in the Caribbean are sparsely populated, as very few broadcasters exist to fully utilise the spectrum available within those frequencies for free, over-the-air programming. So the traditional digital dividend spectrum is not in use and is available in most Caribbean countries. A case of having digital assets instead of having to win a digital dividend. As a result, the region’s broadcasters may not have as strong a motivation to invest in the digital switchover,” said Nigel Cassimire, a telecommunications specialist and spectrum expert with the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU).

The CTU advises regional governments on the intricacies of spectrum planning and policy development, including areas such as digital switchover and frequency reallocation.

Governments can generate revenue by auctioning parts of available or freed-up spectrum to telecommunications service companies, such as mobile service providers. Jamaica and Antigua & Barbuda are two Caribbean countries that have already assigned mobile services for frequencies previously designated primarily for television broadcasting.

“Regional governments and other stakeholders must weigh the costs and benefits of the digital switchover, balancing the risks of radical change against the promise of emerging opportunity,” Cassimire said.

He added that the CTU is working closely with its member states to develop a regulatory and commercial framework to safeguard the interests of all stakeholders.

Among the most tangible possibilities for the region is the opportunity to enhance the production of original video and audio programming for local consumption.

If the Caribbean is to maximise the opportunities of digital switchover, then governments, regulators and broadcasters will have to work in concert to deepen interest and investment in local content production.

“In a media landscape dominated by the cultural and economic powerhouses of the world, audiences from emerging markets like the Caribbean typically find themselves drowning in a flood of foreign content,” said Bevil Wooding, an Internet Strategist and Director of the CTU’s Caribbean ICT Roadshow, an initiative that boosts general ICT awareness and promotes local digital content creation.

“We can harness creative local resources to produce relevant local content, riding on local infrastructure, governed by local legislation, transacting in the local markets, to meet local needs,” Wooding said.

The interconnected set of actions he describes is key to realising the digital dividends other countries have already achieved, and the Caribbean longs for. With the right mix of political will, technical expertise and private sector investment, the Caribbean has the potential to convert its digital assets into a real cultural dividend.