Business View Caribbean | March 2019

10 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN MARCH 2019 its inaugural meeting, CarPIF has sought to bring together key infrastructure, service, and content providers to improve network interconnection, lower the cost of connectivity, and increase the number of Internet users and services in the Caribbean,” said Shernon Osepa, Regional Affairs Manager for the Latin America and the Caribbean Bureau of the Internet Society, who, together with Wooding, co-founded CarPIF. “One important factor in the Caribbean region is its vulnerability to natural disasters. Raising awareness of the need to build resilient telecoms and Internet infrastructure is very important. Internet exchange points can play a significant role, to a certain extent, to keep local communications ongoing also during a natural disaster,” Osepa added. Event organizers said the Internet Society, CaribNOG, Packet Clearing House, and ARIN intend to deepen the strategic partnerships cultivated with local and regional stakeholders such as the Caribbean Telecommunications Union and the OECS Commission. “The relationships cultivated in the CarPIF community are crucial to the ongoing development of Internet Infrastructure and services, and the acceleration of digital innovation and inclusion in the Caribbean,” Wooding said. More than 100 participants from the Caribbean, North America and Europe attended the 2018 CarPIF in Belize City, Belize. Organizers will hope to surpass this number in 2019. Increasing Caribbean interconnections requires collaboration and partnership among a diverse set of stakeholders