As the curtains closed on CANTO’s 26th Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition held this year at the World Trade Centre in Curaçao from 11th – 14th July; participants were impressed with the wide array of information available in the conference and exhibition for ‘Embracing Technology for Economic Success’, this year’s conference theme. The conference attracted nearly 500 participants and 60 exhibits confirming CANTO’s conference as the premier telecommunications conference in the Caribbean region.
The Connect the Caribbean projects identified by CANTO were also unveiled at the conference by consultant Atiba Phillips who provided an overview of the three projects to be pursued, namely:
- 1. Regional e-Market place
- 2. Regional e-Content
- 3. Community and social investment
In 2008, following the launch of Connect the World by the International Telecommunications Union(ITU), CANTO embarked on promoting the need for the Caribbean to develop a Connect the Caribbean initiative to ensure that all countries achieved the Millennium Development Goals including connecting the unconnected by 2015. CANTO engaged key stakeholders including governments and organizations such as the ITU, Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), CARICOM, UWI, operators and the private sector. With the assistance of the consultant INFOCOMM Technologies Ltd., CANTO identified the specific role it intended to play to connect the Caribbean. The projects identified seek to provide commercial opportunities for its members whilst also driving innovation and entrepreneurship in the region.
With respect to the e-Content, Chairman Dirk Currie from TELESUR said, ‘it is recognized that there is a considerable amount of talent in the region that has not been discovered and we will soon be making an announcement about how CANTO will be playing a role to facilitate the development and marketing of content in the region.’
CANTO’s role as facilitator and marketer of regional indigenous content creation has since been brought to the fore with CANTO’s Regional e-Content competition which will be launched late in September this year. The competition seeks to provide a platform for seeking and showcasing the technological and innovative talent of the Caribbean. The competition is intended to form a basis for networking, collaboration and exchange among content producers across the Caribbean; thereby building a momentum towards the establishment of a robust regional e-Content Industry.
This initiative will promote creativity and innovation in the development of new media applications and will select quality e-Content applications to rival the world’s best as they go on to compete in the 2011 World Summit Award (WSA).
The community and social investment initiative seeks to tap into the social conscience of operators and other members of CANTO by encouraging them to support or launch programmes for youth and community ICT development including micro and small business and being environmentally friendly including managing e waste.
Seven government Ministers also attended the conference including the Ministerial Breakfast where Mr. Milton Brady, Chief Commercial Officer of LIME also presented how LIME is connecting the Caribbean by showcasing several interesting solutions it is delivering for security, e-Health and education in several Caribbean locations.
Secretary General, Ms Regenie Fräser said, ‘CANTO is committed to connecting the Caribbean and is pleased with the response from members, Government Ministers and other key stakeholders. Our next step is to expand our partners to include agencies in each country who can assist in driving the business and entrepreneurship opportunities presented by the Connect the Caribbean projects.’
The Caribbean Association of National Telecommunication Organizations (CANTO) was founded in 1985 as a nonprofit association of ICT operating companies in the Caribbean. CANTO is now recognized as a major trade association in the telecommunication sector with 110 members in 31 countries. CANTO is the leading telecommunications trade organization in the Caribbean and is also recognized internationally for its leadership in the industry.
For more information on CANTO visit www.canto.org