In the 21st century, digital infrastructure is the cornerstone of economic growth, social development, and regional cooperation. For the Caribbean, a region of small island developing states (SIDS) dispersed across the sea, data, undersea cables, data centers, Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), and regional connectivity are not just technological components but foundational pillars for a more resilient, independent, and inclusive future.
Modernizing and integrating digital systems is urgent and fundamental to unlocking the region’s digital potential, from education and healthcare to e-commerce and tourism. As demand for digital services accelerates due to increasing 4G and 5G adoption in the French Antilles, Cayman Islands, and Puerto Rico, among other markets, the region must urgently address its current limitations in data infrastructure to avoid falling behind and fully harness the socio-economic opportunities of digital transformation.
At the heart of this transformation lies the subsea cable system, the primary infrastructure for transporting over 95% of the world’s international internet traffic. These submarine fiber optic cables are the invisible highways of the digital age, linking the Caribbean to global data hubs in North America, Europe, and South America. Historically, systems such as ARCOS-1 and Americas-II were designed outwardly, prioritizing connectivity between individual Caribbean islands and the United States or Europe.
This model largely neglected the development of direct intra-Caribbean routes, resulting in a regional infrastructure heavily dependent on a few international exit points. In most cases, each island relies on a single international cable connection, making it acutely vulnerable to service disruptions. The lack of route diversity means that when outages occur, whether due to natural disasters, accidental cable cuts, or technical failures, entire nations can be cut off from the global internet, as has been witnessed repeatedly across the region.
This external dependency also leads to inefficiencies in data transmission: a simple exchange of information between two neighboring islands often has to be routed through Miami or New York, drastically increasing latency, transit costs, and exposure to extraterritorial risks. The absence of direct inter-island fiber links impedes local traffic efficiency and raises operational costs for Caribbean telecom providers and digital service platforms. These inefficiencies affect everything from public service delivery and business operations to educational platforms and emergency response systems.
Even the growth of financial services, such as the launch of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) like DCASH (Eastern Caribbean Central Bank – ECCB) and the Sand Dollar (Central Bank of The Bahamas), is impacted by the data transport infrastructure available. CBDCs require real-time or near-real-time processing for peer-to-peer and business-to-government payments.
Transaction confirmation times would be drastically reduced with low-latency and high-bandwidth infrastructure, such as upgraded subsea cables and efficient routing via local IXPs. This would make CBDCs more viable for day-to-day use, including by unbanked populations relying on mobile phones. For example, A faster connection between Antigua and St. Lucia within the ECCB’s jurisdiction would reduce the delay in validating DCASH payments across borders.
Regional awareness of the need for better data storage and transport network infrastructure has grown, giving rise to initiatives to strengthen the Caribbean’s digital backbone. The Caribbean Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (CARCIP) and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean’s (ECLAC) Digital Caribbean initiative have advocated for improved regional connectivity. Fortunately, recent years have brought a modest improvement in cable diversification. Newer systems like Caribbean-Brazil Submarine Cable System (CBUS), EllaLink, and Tikal-AMX-3 promise better regional interconnection and links to Europe and South America.
However, these improvements are unevenly distributed and do not reflect a coordinated Caribbean-wide cable policy or digital integration strategy. The lack of redundancy and direct regional interconnectivity leaves many islands vulnerable to outages, as experienced in cases like the 2023 submarine cable disruption affecting multiple territories in the Eastern Caribbean. Even with the arrival of these cables, some markets will continue to have only one undersea cable landing at their beaches. In contrast, others, like Curaçao, Dominican Republic, or Puerto Rico, have multiple cables landing at least two locations.
Developing intra-regional subsea cables, linking islands directly without detaining them through North America, is now a strategic, and potentially a political, priority. These cables would enhance network resilience by providing redundant and diversified routes, reducing latency, lowering data transit costs, and creating a more interconnected and autonomous Caribbean digital ecosystem. In doing so, they would help foster regional digital unity, enabling the Caribbean to participate more fully and equitably in the global digital economy.
These initiatives aim to reduce reliance on a few routes, improve redundancy, and foster inter-island links, enhancing national and regional resilience. Such infrastructure is vital for digital and traditional sectors like tourism and financial services, which now depend on seamless digital interaction.
According to global consultancy Telegeography, in 1Q2025, eleven undersea cable systems were planned to land in at least one country, from Latin America to the Caribbean. Only one was intra-Caribbean, and three more landed in at least one regional market. The Caribbean still needs to strengthen its regional connectivity by building more undersea cable systems. Still, the main difficulty is finding investors willing to finance their construction in what they consider small markets that won’t generate enough traffic to justify the investment.
Paradoxically, this statement is contradicted by different forecasts, for example, the Cisco Annual Internet Report, the Ericsson Mobility Report, and the GSMA Intelligence state that the Caribbean will experience an explosion in data traffic over the next few years. With 4G penetration approaching saturation in several islands and 5G deployments beginning to roll out, mobile broadband is on the cusp of a transformative leap.
According to these projections, mobile data traffic in Latin America and the Caribbean is set to triple between 2024 and 2030, driven by video streaming, cloud-based services, IoT devices, and the growing digitization of public services. 5G networks, to fulfill their many promises, require significantly higher bandwidth and lower latency than previous generations, placing massive pressure on international gateways and backbone infrastructure.
However, cables alone are insufficient. Data must be stored, processed, and exchanged efficiently, which brings data centers and IXPs into focus. Data centers are the physical locations where cloud services, websites, and enterprise data reside. In the Caribbean, they are crucial to reducing latency, ensuring data sovereignty, and enabling real-time access to government services, e-commerce platforms, and digital financial tools. Yet, many Caribbean nations still rely heavily on foreign-hosted data, increasing vulnerability to surveillance, jurisdictional disputes, and network instability.
As one Caribbean government official remarked at a recent telecommunications conference in Willemstad, “You never know when Trump will become more crazy and we need to be independent of Trump,” underscoring the geopolitical imperative of digital independence.
Despite growing demand for cloud and co-location services, the region’s data center footprint remains limited. Places like Curaçao, already home to two data centers (one of them Tier 4), two ISPs, two undersea cables, and an IXP, demonstrate that a localized digital hub is possible, serving national and regional needs. To replicate this model, Caribbean countries must harmonize regulations, adopt data protection frameworks like the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and invest in cybersecurity networks. Cloud readiness remains a challenge, especially in smaller SIDS, but the region must resist digital colonialism by developing local alternatives to the dominant global cloud providers.
Meanwhile, Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) are essential to the architecture of regional internet performance. They allow ISPs and content providers to exchange traffic locally, without sending data through faraway hubs like Miami. This reduces latency, lowers international bandwidth costs, and improves service reliability. IXPs also promote digital sovereignty, keeping traffic within national or regional jurisdictions and enabling governments to tailor data governance policies to local values.
However, IXPs in the Caribbean face structural challenges. Many are small and isolated, lacking the critical mass of participants needed for economic viability. Fragmented regulatory regimes, limited hosting infrastructure, and the dominance of large ISPs that resist peering further hinder development. Some countries have IXPs in name only, with no active peering among ISPs. Others, like Grenada and Barbados, have struggled to scale due to lack of incentives, regulatory clarity, and ISP resistance.
A coordinated regional strategy is needed to encourage IXP participation, expand local content hosting, and invest in neutral governance models that ensure open and fair access for all stakeholders. IXPs should be treated as public-interest infrastructure, just as important as roads or ports.
Regional connectivity goes beyond physical cables and data hubs, requiring institutional collaboration and policy alignment. Currently, regulatory environments across the Caribbean are fragmented, outdated, and inconsistent. This complicates cable deployments and deters investment in data infrastructure. A harmonized approach, championed by entities like the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), could streamline licensing, promote open access, and reduce the risks for private sector actors. Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and blended finance models involving development banks like the IDB and World Bank offer pathways to scale these investments sustainably.
In addition to terrestrial solutions, Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite systems such as SpaceX’s Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and eventually China’s Guowang are emerging as complementary tools. While they cannot replace the high-capacity backbone provided by cables, LEO satellites offer critical redundancy, especially during natural disasters. Hybrid systems combining subsea cables with satellite infrastructure will be essential for building a resilient Caribbean network.
Technological advancements also promise long-term benefits. Smart cables embedded with environmental sensors could aid oceanic research and disaster preparedness. Given the region’s solar and wind potential, environmentally sustainable data centers powered by renewable energy are within reach.
The Caribbean stands at a critical crossroads. With data demand set to surge due to the expansion of 4G and 5G networks, the region must decisively modernize its digital foundation through investment in subsea cables, localized data centers, efficient IXPs, and harmonized regional regulatory frameworks. This integrated approach is essential to meeting the demands of a connected future and supporting economic diversification, strengthening sovereignty, and ensuring inclusive development.
As tourism alone can no longer sustain long-term prosperity, digital infrastructure must become the new growth engine. The Caribbean possesses all the necessary components to shape its digital destiny; the political will, coordinated action, and visionary leadership remain to place connectivity at the heart of development. The digital tide is rising, Caribbean nations must now choose whether to lead the wave or risk being left behind.
