Curaçao is one of the leading telecoms and ICT infrastructure hubs in the Caribbean, which tends to be overlooked by its Caribbean neighbours. Giovanni King of the Bureau Telecommunications and Post in Curaçao, discusses the current state of telecoms in Curaçao, how it has been able to develop its infrastructure to attract global players, and how the country plans to become a smart nation.

 

This episode is also available in Apple iTunes, Google Play Music and on Stitcher!

For those of us who are native English speakers in the Caribbean, we rarely pay attention to the non-English speaking territories that are our immediate neighbours, although many of them might also be members of regional groupings of which we are a part. Furthermore, and although at times there might be a language barrier, invariably there are also commonalities with which we can identify, and from which we can learn. Hence, in this instalment in our ‘Know Your Neighbours’ series, the country we will be exploring is Curaçao.

A part of the Dutch Caribbean and located north of Venezuela, between Aruba and Bonaire, Curaçao is a self-governing country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The country covers approximately 444 squared kilometres (171 squared miles), and it has an estimated population of just under 160,000. Uniquely, Curaçao has three official languages: Dutch; English; and a local creole, Papiamento, although most nationals also speak Spanish.

Similar to many of its Caribbean neighbours, Curaçao is experiencing several economic challenges, and is eager to diversify its economy from tourism and international financial services. However, due to its location outside the hurricane belt, its sophisticated legislative framework – thanks to being part of the Dutch Kingdom – Curaçao is a popular destination for many major telecoms facilities. With the three commercial data centres established there, a robust Internet Exchange Point plus the six submarine cable systems that land there, at the very least, Curaçao possesses much of the critical infrastructure needed to truly begin to leverage the internet.

Giovanni King

Giovanni King is the Chief Operations Officer of the Bureau Telecommunicatie et Post (Bureau Telecommunications and Post) of Curaçao, which essentially is the regulator for, among other things, telecommunications, post, electricity, water and fuel. Giovanni has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, the majority of which is as an executive with a telecoms regulatory authority.

In this conversation with Giovanni, and similar to previous episodes of our Know Your Neighbours’ series, we hope to get a better understanding of, among other things:

  • What the telecoms and ICT space is like in Curaçao?
  • What are some of ICT-related trends and opportunities in Curaçao?
  • And a few tips about the Curaçao psyche and business culture for those who might be curious about doing business there.

Some of the questions posed to Giovanni during the course of conversation include the following:

  1. Can we get s a quick overview of Curaçao?
  2. How developed is telecoms and ICT in Curaçao, and how robust is the competition in those markets?
  3. Are telecoms and ICT services affordable in Curaçao? How is the quality of broadband service?
  4. What might be some of the pros and cons of having commercial data centres that other Caribbean countries might not be aware of?
  5. To what degree is the Government and private sector in Curaçao leveraging ICT?
  6. What is it like being an entrepreneur in Curaçao? How is the start-up environment/ start-up culture?
  7. What might be some of the idiosyncrasies of Curaçao, and doing business in Curaçao, that a foreigner might need to grapple with?
  8. What are some of the tech-related or tech business related-trends evident in the Curaçao?
  9. What are some of the ICT/tech-related opportunities evident in Curaçao?

 

We would love to hear your thoughts!

Do leave us a comment either here beneath this article, or on our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, or via Twitter, @ICTPulse.

 

Select links

Below are links to some of the organisations and resources that either were mentioned during the episode, or otherwise, might be useful:

 

 

Image credits:   Michelle Maria (Pixabay);  Nelo Hotsuma (flickr);  Wikipedia;  G King

Music credit:  Ray Holman  

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