A roundup of the latest ICT/technology news from across the Caribbean region for the period Monday 5 December to Sunday 11 December 2022.
Monday, 5 December 2021
The FTX fiasco
Bahamas – On November 2, 2022, a news article appeared that launched a series of events that, in a matter of days, led to the mercurial meltdown of one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. Thus began the downward spiraling demise of FTX Digital Markets and its related companies worldwide… more
The FTX meltdown
Bahamas – Bahamians should fasten their seatbelts. The collapse of the FTX crypto exchange under the thirty-year-old Sam Bankman Fried and his young colleagues may turn out to be one of the biggest financial scandals in Bahamian history… more
US Dept. of Justice wants independent FTX probe
Bahamas – The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking an independent examination of the collapse of Bahamas-headquartered FTX, according to a recent court filing… more
Digital transformation
Caribbean – One of the most powerful strategies that a government can use to enhance communication internally and externally and promote the efficient delivery of services to its citizens is information technology… more
OP -Ed: Bringing Public Health to the Digital Age
Dominica – The COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible mark on our lives and on our societies. It has also reinforced the power and potential of digital technologies to advance public health… more
Success for Dominica in telemedicine project
Dominica – The A-Medic Clinic in collaboration with Dominican organizations including Optipharm Eye Centre, The All-Saints University School of Medicine, and The One Good Deed Foundation, has implemented a telemedicine project sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), through the Connect2Recover Research Competition… more
Trinidad and Tobago drops in 2022 Network Readiness Index
Trinidad and Tobago – SINCE THE last compilation of the Network Readiness Index, TT has dropped seven places from 85 to 92. In 2020, this country was ranked at 81… more
Tuesday, 6 December 2021
ABED GROUP ACQUIRES MMONEY
Bahamas – The Abed Group, an innovation-driven family office based in Barbados, announced today that it has acquired mMoney from Bitt Digital Inc… more
Cable Bahamas to appeal URCA fine over ‘quality of service’ investigation
Bahamas – The Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) has fined Cable Bahamas 2.025 percent of its monthly recurring pay TV charges for 2021, following a ‘quality of service’ investigation into complaints of recurring outages, error messages, and pixelated channels… more
FNM chairman queries FTX chief’s local status
Bahamas – The Government should begin examining “in a very deliberate fashion” the immigration status held by embattled FTX chief, Sam Bankman-Fried, and his close associates, the FNM chairman said yesterday… more
FTX founder ‘still learning’ what caused firm’s collapse
Bahamas – DISGRACED FTX founder Sam Bankman- Fried said he is still “learning” and “reviewing” what led to his company’s collapse last month, adding he is not sure he will be ready to testify before Congress at a hearing in the United States next week… more
Island Pay: Banking shift to provide ‘significant’ opportunities in digital payment space
Bahamas – A Bahamian digital payments solutions provider says that increased efforts by commercial banks to abandon their traditional brick-and-mortar locations for online payment solutions will provide ‘significant’ opportunities in the digital payment space… more
Open letter to the people of The Bahamas on FTX
Bahamas – Dear people of The Bahamas, It was about time that The Bahamas attorney general, Ryan Pinder, came out formally last week in his 23-minute prepared speech to give context on the FTX situation and the investigation… more
No Cable customer payout for bad TV
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas pay-TV customers will not be compensated even though regulators found it breached both its licence terms and consumer protection regulations by delivering poor quality services in 2021… more
Regulators throw out $85m Cable warning
Bahamas – Regulators yesterday rejected Cable Bahamas’ warning that the fine imposed on it for poor pay-TV service quality would “detract” from its $85m capital investment in network infrastructure upgrades… more
Guyana to introduce single electronic window
Guyana – GUYANA on Monday tabled legislation in the National Assembly aimed at the establishment of a single window electronic processing system to increase business efficiency, as the housing and construction industries are expanding rapidly… more
Flow partners with SRC to power Science and Technology Conference
Jamaica – Flow recently collaborated with the Scientific Research Council (SRC) on its 7th Biennial Science and Technology Conference, demonstrating the underlying importance of internet access to technology, business growth and innovation… more
Turks and Caicos Islands Regulatory Successfully Finalizes Emergency Preparedness Agreement
Turks and Caicos Islands – The Turks and Caicos Islands Telecommunications Commission (TCTC) has successfully completed its Emergency Preparedness Agreement (EPA) between the Islands’ network operators, Digicel and Flow… more
Wednesday, 7 December 2021
Crypto exchange OKX looking to increase staff to 100 over three years
Bahamas – Economic Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis said yesterday that crypto exchange OKX remains committed to The Bahamas and is looking to increase its staff complement in this jurisdiction to roughly 100 employees over the next three years… more
Cuba looking to liberate 700MHz band to improve 4G services
Cuba – The partial transition from analog to digital television in Cuba is advancing, which will allow the 700MHz band to be liberated to expand 4G networks, according to the communications ministry… more
Carissa Etienne | Bringing public health to the digital age
Jamaica – The COVID-19 pandemic has left an indelible mark on our lives and on our societies. It has also reinforced the power and potential of digital technologies to advance public health… more
St Lucia hoping for amicable solution with Digicel over impending increase
Saint Lucia – The St Lucia government says telecommunication company Digicel “has not followed the correct protocol” after postpaid customers said they were informed of a “price adjustment”… more
TEATT set to Launch Online Business License Application.
Sint Maarten – The Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation & Telecommunication (TEATT), will be introducing its online business license application services on January 1st, 2023… more
Data-driven approach to improve T&T’s service sector
Trinidad and Tobago – Some of the major barriers that make exporting a challenge include difficulty in accessing international markets; fierce foreign competition; lack of access to market intelligence and research; regulatory complexity; lack of knowledge of free/foreign trade agreements; lack of access to financing, and difficulty finding trading partners… more
High-income digital skills to consider learning in 2022
Trinidad and Tobago – It’s hard not to get depressed or upset (depending on how you view it) when you see the headlines that speak of the two per cent wage increase when the Trinidad and Tobago Central Bank announced that inflation for 2022 is at 4.1 per cent… more
Thursday, 8 December 2021
Article ties Bahamas’ criminal colonial past to FTX collapse
Bahamas – While The Bahamas attempts to keep its reputation intact following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, government officials can only watch as respected news media from the US disparage the country’s reputation as a financial jurisdiction and one that respects the rule of law… more
Cable targets 33,000 Nassau homes for new network in Q1
Bahamas – CABLE Bahamas is targeting 33,000 southern New Providence homes for connection to its new fibre-to-the-home network starting in the 2023 first quarter after overcoming supply chain challenges that delayed the roll-out… more
EDITORIAL: Blaming The Bahamas instead of crypto industry
Bahamas – IN the fallout over the collapse of FTX, there has been quite a lot of talk about The Bahamas and its role in the whole affair – much of it completely unfounded… more
FNM chairman queries FTX chief’s local status
Bahamas – The Government should begin examining “in a very deliberate fashion” the immigration status held by embattled FTX chief, Sam Bankman-Fried, and his close associates, the FNM chairman said yesterday… more
The FTX fallout continuation
Bahamas – The Bahamas continues to deal with the fallout from the FTX debacle and, unfortunately, larger countries around the world are pointing fingers at The Bahamas – but is it fair and should those countries not share most of the blame?… more
Wrong influence
Barbados – Social media may be partly to blame for the rise in gun crime amongst young men… more
5 ways content creators can make money
Caribbean – There has been a lot of talk about how content creators or influencers don’t feel valued or appreciated by companies. Some have gone on to criticise the businesses that reach out to them with low offerings or freebies as “cheap.”… more
Banking, finance services identified as growth area in BPO
Jamaica – Market research company Technavio has released a new report on the business process outsourcing (BPO) market which projects that it will increase by US$75.89 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.5 per cent between 2023 and 2027… more
Fully digital
Jamaica – Thanks to yet another generous donation by MBJ Airports Limited, all 58 students of Flanker Primary and Infant School in Montego Bay who will be doing Primary Exit Profile (PEP) exams next year now have a better chance of success… more
4 Trinidad and Tobago entrepreneurs attend TechBeach Retreat in Jamaica
Trinidad and Tobago – Four entrepreneurs from Nudge Caribbean have been selected to attend the TechBeach Retreat Conference in Montego Bay, Jamaica, from December 8-10… more
CyberEye launched to help protect companies’ data
Trinidad and Tobago – Protecting your data, whether personal or organisational, has just become easier with CyberEye, a cybersecurity group made up of people from tech and security firms. This group will offer people policies, processes, and technologies to manage risk as well as help them detect and respond to any digital threat… more
Get more with Grapes Technology
Trinidad and Tobago – From his office at Invaders Bay in Port of Spain, Keron Les Pierre, CEO of Grapes Technology talks about the journey that brought him among the finalists of the entrepreneurship category in the recently concluded Champions of Business Awards 2022… more
Government rejects TSTT’s $1b bill for CCTV services
Trinidad and Tobago – A multi-million-dollar security camera network aimed at giving police and other national security agencies the ability to monitor activities in cities, towns and highways has been found to be riddled with technical problems, producing footage that is is reportedly “blurred, dirty, obstructed, unclear and unstable.”… more
Friday, 9 December 2021
Bahamian bank, chair under US senate scrutiny on FTX
Bahamas – A Bahamian bank and trust company, and its chairman, are coming under increasing scrutiny by US senators over their links to FTX and other entities owned by the collapsed crypto currency exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried… more
Cable to focus on FTTH rollout in 2023 after supply chain issues this year
Bahamas – Cable Bahamas Limited’s (CBL) fiber to the home (FTTH) rollout this year has been impeded by supply chain issues that led to equipment delivery delays, the company’s President Franklyn Butler said in a statement in the company’s annual report for the 2022 fiscal year… more
Congresswoman says FTX subpoena ‘on the table’
Bahamas – US HOUSE Financial Services chair Maxine Waters dispelled reports that she is not willing to subpoena former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, stating that it is “definitely on the table”… more
Financial expert: Bahamas must respond to unjust FTX articles
Bahamas – The Bahamas and Bahamians have an obligation to respond to some of the vitriolic and unjust reputational attacks that the country is being bombarded with since cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed and went into the hands of provisional liquidators, Principal of Next Level Solutions Limited Hubert Edwards told Guardian Business yesterday… more
Regional expert warns of “new type of blacklist” in the pipeline for The Bahamas over FTX fall-out
Bahamas – A noted regional digital currency pioneer yesterday warned that a “new type of blacklist” could be “coming down the pipeline” for this nation in light of the fallout from the collapse of crypto exchange FTX… more
Flow sales hurting from US$10m copper theft
Jamaica – Telecommunications provider Flow Jamaica said that copper theft and vandalism cost it at least US$10 million, or $1.5 billion, in lost revenue this year following hundreds of incidents of vandalism, including one in St Andrew this week… more
Recreating iCreate: Digital media firm shifts focus to thrive
Jamaica – Education and training, which was the primary area of iCreate’s focus when it went public nearly four three years ago, has now fallen to around 30 per cent of the business… more
LynkBiz merchant platform launched
Jamaica – Digital wallet platform Lynk has started the implement of its new merchant platform LynkBiz… more
Saturday, 10 December 2022
The Top Career Paths for Techies
Caribbean – There are many different career paths that techies can take. Some of the top career paths for techies include becoming a software engineer, a web developer, or a database administrator… more
Sunday, 11 December 2022
Xavier Vives | Crypto’s well-worn path to crisis
Caribbean – Swiftly rising interest rates have punctured the cryptocurrency bubble, exposing fragility, bad governance, and even fraud in many corners… more
Digital ID cards, e-visa portal on the horizon – VP Jagdeo
Guyana – The Government of Guyana on Friday disclosed that it intends to produce new and improved digital national identification cards as well as develop an e-visa portal to facilitate the ease of doing business here and hassle-free travel… more
DenArthur Analytics mines data gold
Jamaica – IN an age in which data has become its own currency, Ryan Simons is sifting through multitudinous data, helping companies strike gold — or, at least, make golden decisions… more
Dragonfly Fintech, 876 Solutions partner to speed up Carib digital banking
Jamaica – SINGAPORE-BASED Dragonfly Fintech, a core banking solution provider, and 876 Technology Solutions, a Jamaica-based managed solutions provider, recently announced a strategic partnership as part of their commitment to driving the digital evolution of banks in the Caribbean… more
Images credit: wiredsmartio (Pixabay); Wikipedia; Bahamas Local;; Wikipedia; Wikimedia Commons; Wikipedia; Flow (Facebook); Wikipedia
