In 2023, six worldwide large tech firms earned US$11.5 billion from the Caribbean, with out contributing or reinvesting any of their revenues into the area’s improvement. This was revealed by Lisa Agard, the newly appointed Chair of C9, as she participated in a panel dialogue on Honest Share, on the CANTO Join & fortieth AGM Celebration on the Hyatt Regency on Monday.
Agard’s appointment as Chair of the C9, a CANTO Working Group of Caribbean Telecommunications Operators advocating for Honest Share, was introduced on the CANTO Join & fortieth AGM Celebration. The C9 includes ATN Worldwide, Belize Telemedia Restricted (BTL), Cable Bahamas, Digicel, Guyana Phone and Telegraph Firm (GTT), Liberty Latin America, Telesur, The Cable in St. Kitts, and Telecommunications Companies of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT).
Agard is an attorney-at-law and a seasoned telecommunications skilled with over 24 years’ expertise within the Business. She holds a Bachelor of Legal guidelines diploma from the UWI, and a Grasp of Legal guidelines diploma from the London College of Economics and Political Science, and a level of utter Barrister from the Honourable Society of Grey’s Inn and was referred to as to the English Bar 987. She has govt administration coaching from INSEAD in France; and the Wharton College of Enterprise; and Columbia College in the US.
CANTO AGM attendees heard that large tech firms like Alphabet, META, Tik Tok, and Netflix neither create employment nor pay taxes, regulatory charges, or spectrum charges within the Caribbean. Regardless of their substantial utilization accounting for sixty-six % of all web visitors within the area, these firms make no monetary contributions.
Not like large tech firms, Caribbean community operators invested over US$500 million each year in community upgrades and enhancements since 2017, amidst the background of flat and declining revenues. With a purpose to make sure the sustainability of regional telecommunications, and fund regional improvement, everybody must pay their Honest Share.
On the subject of measuring ICT and digital improvement within the area, Agard defined, “There’s a robust correlation between digital improvement and financial improvement, and the Caribbean shall be left behind if these large tech firms proceed to reap income with out contributing.”
Honest Share is a worldwide dialogue gaining momentum throughout Europe, South Korea, Brazil, and the US. The C9 intends to foyer governments, regulators, and business stakeholders to help new insurance policies and a revision of the telecommunications sector’s construction all through the area. That is seen as a mechanism to make sure strong, ubiquitous, and reasonably priced ICT infrastructure.
Agard added, “There’s important and incontrovertible proof that there’s market failure within the telecommunications business in Trinidad and Tobago for instance. Not too long ago the place was very completely documented in an skilled report of the Caribbean Telecommunications Union. Moreover, twenty-two million individuals stay unconnected to the web on this area, with the Caribbean touchdown a stable twenty factors behind Europe when it comes to ICT maturity and digital improvement. That is very regarding, and we’ve got to do what we are able to to not find yourself with a two-tier web world the place Europe, Asia and the Center East get forward of us, and Africa and the Caribbean are left behind.”
The CANTO Join AGM served as a platform for telecommunications stakeholders from throughout the area to have interaction in discussions essential for the business’s future. The occasion featured interactive model shows from Digicel Enterprise, Huawei, bmobile, Answer Field and Cable & Wi-fi, together with a number of keynote shows.
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