The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMAS-BASED cloud services provider yesterday said Caribbean regulators must focus on reducing Internet bandwidth costs across the region.

Scott MacKenzie, Cloud Carib’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that the Caribbean Telecommunications Union’s (CTU) information and communications technology week, which opened in Nassau yesterday, must deliver the right policy mix to grow the sector.

“I think with regulation for anything, it’s good to formulate your own strategy internally and then bring it into a broader audience, and that’s where industry participation comes in,” he added.

The CTUs closed-door meetings will take place throughout the week, mixed with private sector interaction. “That’s the whole reason for having URCA (the Utilities Regulatory Competition Authority) or regulatory bodies in general, so the regulatory bodies can interface with CTU, which interfaces with the ITU (International Telecommunications Union) out of the UN,” Mr MacKenzie added.

“Bandwidth as an example, you have to ask the question, not from an industry perspective, but from a citizen or government perspective: Why is bandwidth here 1,000 times more expensive in the Caribbean than it is across the water in the North American market? You have to ask that question.”

Suggesting that it was critical to have industry providers involved in these discussions because “this is where they make their money”, while regulators’ primary focus is on protecting consumers, Mr MacKenzie said: “These meetings happen every year, and every year they do this in a different country. So this year, it’s The Bahamas’ time to host it, and it’s really the same kind of thing each year for over the past ten years.”