Although a full member of the Caribbean Community, the rest of English-speaking Caribbean knows relatively little about Belize, generally, and from an ICT perspective. In this the latest instalment of our Know Your Neighbours series, Kimano Barrow, of the Public Utilities Commission, discusses, among other things: the telecoms and ICT space is like in Belize; how the country is leveraging telecoms and ICT; and some of ICT-related trends and opportunities that might be evident there.

 

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

In some quarters, Belize is considered a bridge between Latin America and the Caribbean. bordered by Mexico, Guatemala and the Caribbean Sea, Belize is the only former British colony and English-speaking country located in Central America. The country covers an area of approximately 22,970 square kilometres (8,867 square miles), and so is the fifth largest behind Guyana, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and has a population of just over 400,000.

Although Belize has many natural resources, a still strong agriculture sector, and a growing and diverse tourism industry, historically, its telecoms services were quite poor, which we recorded in our annual Snapshot reviews. However, in recent years, the incumbent telecoms provider in particular, Belize Telemedia Limited, has been making a concerted effort to improve broadband Internet speeds and the affordability of some of its services, which is likely open up a broad range of opportunities in the country.

A relatively new industry that has taken root in Belize is offshore outsourcing, for which good quality, high speed, yet affordable telecoms and ICT services, are essential. However, to what degree is the country – the public and private sectors, along with the public at larger – leveraging telecoms and ICT? This is one of many questions our Know Your Neighbours’ spotlight on Belize hopes to have answered.

Kimano Barrow

Kimano Barrow is one of the Commissioners of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in Belize, which regulates electricity, water, in addition to telecommunications. The PUC is almost 20 years old, having been established through the Belize Telecommunications Act, 2002. Kimano is an Engineer by training, with 20 years’ experience in ICT, and is the owner of Systems Consultants in Belize. He has been a Commissioner since 2008.

In our conversation with Kimano, the questions we posed included the following:

  1. Can we get a quick overview of Belize?
  2. With regard to telecoms and ICT, how developed is it in Belize ? How robust is the competition in the market? How accessible are those services?
  3. Are telecoms and ICT services affordable in Belize?
  4. In your opinion, to what degree is the Government and private sector in Belize leveraging ICT?
  5. What is it like being an entrepreneur in Belize ? What do you think about the country’s start-up environment/ start-up culture?
  6. If someone outside Belize wants to do business in Belize , what are key steps that you would recommend?
  7. What might be some of the idiosyncrasies of Belize, and doing business in Belize, that a foreigner might need to grapple with?
  8. What are some of the tech-related or tech business related-trends you are seeing in the Belize ?
  9. What do you believe are the strengths of the ICT/tech space in Belize ?
  10. What are some of the ICT/tech-related opportunities that you see in Belize ?
  11. What are some of the challenges Belize might have to address to improve ICT there?

 

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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:  Wikimedia Commons;  Wikimedia Commons;  Roger W (flickr);  pxfuel,;  PUC

Music credit:  Ray Holman

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