Caribbean PPPs to deploy national fiber networks in St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines

In a global first, GVIC negotiated Public Private Partnerships for three Caribbean island nations to simultaneously deploy new fiber terrestrial and submarine networks for both government and commercial use, through a combined 3-country procurement process with international telecom operator Digicel. This contract strategy obtained substantial economies of scale for each government.

GVIC led an international joint venture to advise the island nations of St. Lucia, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 2017-2018 supported by CARCIP, CTU and the World Bank. GVIC advised the governments in negotiations with Digicel to construct national fiber networks, Government Wide Area Networks (GWANs) and internet access to schools and universities. The networks now serve both commercial and secure government and educational institution needs, and included construction of a submarine cable between Grenada and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

The three governments and Digicel invested a total of $46 million, with Digicel investing $34 million, governments (with World Bank/CARCIP funding) investing $9.4 million. St. Lucia Electric investing $2 million. Governments also made available spectrum and govt network components to Digicel. Digicel transferred ownership to governments of the fiber network strands and components immediately after construction.

Following contract signing, GVIC advised the regional telecom regulator Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) on new regulations for access to submarine cables, national backbone, local loop, as well as Internet Exchange Points (IXPs). These regulations implemented components of the new Electronic Communications Bill in seven ECTEL member countries.