St. Kitts and Nevis: E-Commerce

St. Kitts and Nevis Introduction

The government is highly aware of the need to push forward with e-commerce development. Says the Prime Minister: "Information technology and telecommunications will play an important role in my Government's strategy for stimulating increased economic growth and advancing the development process in our Federation. The global market for information technology has exhibited phenomenal growth in recent years, and as such, globalization and the phenomenal advances in telecommunications have opened up new avenues of growth and development for developing countries such as ours. No modern society today can survive and grow in the global space without continually updating and developing its technological resources to match changing technological demands and advancements."

"To date the Federation has benefited from investment in a first class communications infrastructure, which allows the interconnectivity necessary to connect to the rest of the world. The liberalization of the telecommunications sector has brought innovations, new business and business opportunities to the market. Although the liberalization process is not complete, already there have been some attempts to bring lower cost services to the general public. In St. Kitts & Nevis, the liberalization process is still in its infant stage, but it is gathering momentum and we are determined to expeditiously remove all remaining impediments to the development of a free, competitive and well regulated telecommunications industry."

The government of St. Kitts and Nevis announced recently that it has a "clear path" for the development of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the expansion of e-government services.

The Taiwan government has aided St Kitts and Nevis in the area of ICT since the signing of a co-operation agreement in November 2006. The two parties met to share developments and suggestions at an e-government seminar in December 2008, also attended by neighbouring islands Jamaica, Belize and Barbados.

St Kitts and Nevis Social and Community Development Minister Rupert Herbert spoke after the occasion:

“They were thoroughly impressed with the presentations, particularly the morning session which highlighted Taiwan’s road from a newly IT-based society, to what it is today.” He added that Taiwan, which is widely regarded as the Asian technology hub for state-of-the-art manufacturing and research, has an impressive IT infrastructure and excellent E-Government services.

“The beauty of their E-services is that they did not just throw them at the people. They were all based on information which they collected from the population with regards to their needs,” he said, adding that the stories from Taiwan were instrumental as it outlined some of the do’s and don’ts in establishing and expanding E-services.

Mr. Herbert stressed that the St. Kitts and Nevis e-government development is still information-based, incorporating email and a government web portal. He indicated that the second half of 2009 may see the expansion into greater service provision. Whenever that time comes he promised that a vigorous public consultation campaign would aim to ensure the government meets the needs of the populace in relation to e-services.

“We have a keen eye out there and we see what’s working. We want these services to be to the benefit of the general public, not just the government,” Herbert concluded.

In January 2009 Nevisian Premier Joseph Parry thanked local Internet and phone service provider LIME, which had recently set up operations in Nevis, for improving telecommunications on the Island. The government acclaimed the improvements that the company has brought to the island and said that the increased tax-take generated from the company’s operations would help secure greater financial independence for Nevis.

BACK TO TOP

St. Kitts and Nevis Facilities

Cable and Wireless, the dominant service provider in St Kitts and Nevis, offers a wide range of hosting and ISPsolutions.

In December, 2005, Caribbean mobile telecoms operator Digicel launched a range of services in St Kitts and Nevis.

In April 2008, the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) and 21st Century Telecoms announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the establishment of the telecommunications company's headquarters on the island. The MoU was signed on April 4th by Nevis Premier, Joseph Parry and Alec Saini, founder and CEO of 21st Century Telecoms.

Saini explained that 21st Century Telecoms will establish the company as the third major telecoms provider in the Caribbean.

"Our telecommunications company is operational right now. It uses different technology than that of Cable and Wireless and Digicel. We use CDMA [Code Division Multiple Access, (a digital cellular technology)] which is (the) main technology in the United States," he commented at the time.

He continued:

"It would benefit US visitors coming to this beautiful island so they will be able to make a call, receive a call using their CDMA handset from Verizon, Sprint, Alltel and all the other major technology operators.

"We'll also put a wireless internet (service) on the island which would benefit the local population. You don't have to go to Cable and Wireless and pay 200 dollars for wireless internet as well as for voice over internet. So we are very excited to be here and we are very grateful to the Premier of Nevis for inviting us and helping us to get it off the ground."

According to Saini, the objective is to create a Pan-Caribbean wide mobile telecommunications and internet communications company in the Caribbean which would be beneficial to the people.

BACK TO TOP

St. Kitts and Nevis Legislation

The Betting and Gaming (Control) Act, 1999 was passed to regulate physical gaming, computer internet gaming, horse or greyhound betting and sports book betting and in that connection to establish a Gaming Board.

The Act introduced a licensing system for internet gaming. Any licence issued under the Act is subject to a onetime concession fee and a minimum annual gaming tax. Licensees have to provide the Board with a certified copy of
their audited financial statement and accounts together with the auditor's report. Nationals of St. Kitts/Nevis are not permitted to place bets on the gaming activities. The Company's Banking Operations, i.e. to receive and settle bets must be carried out through an account with a commercial bank on the island.

A processing fee of USD2,000 per individual must accompany the application for a license. Once approval has been granted, Work Permits must be obtained for non-nationals. A registration fee of USD80,000 and an annual licence fee of USD40,000 are payable.

BACK TO TOP

St. Kitts and Nevis Offshore Activities

The natural bonding of the Internet and Offshore stems from the fact that both, of their nature, manage to avoid tax. Businesses which can operate on the Internet without, so to speak, touching ground in a high-tax jurisdiction will naturally migrate to offshore jurisdictions; while businesses that already have offshore existence will find it highly convenient to be able to use the Internet to trade with their high-tax customers without having to make a landing in their countries.

By locating websites in offshore jurisdictions to carry out functions previously based in high-tax jurisdictions such as sales and marketing, treasury management, supply of financial services, and most of all, the supply of digital goods such as music, video, training, software etc, businesses can take advantage of low rates of taxation for increasingly substantial parts of their operation.

For information about the impact of e-commerce on a number of the main offshore activities which take place in St Kitts, click on a link below to go to our specialist E-commerce site Offshore-e-com.com

To see an analysis of the current state of legal and tax issues surrounding offshore e-commerce, click here.

BACK TO TOP

St. Kitts and Nevis Case Studies

This section will contain case studies of e-commerce solutions applied to offshore business activities carried out from St Kitts and Nevis. To be kept updated as to our progress click here.

BACK TO TOP