NASSAU, Bahamas – Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis has called on Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to move from being rule-takers in the global digital economy to coordinated, capable and confident participants in writing the rules that will shape its future.
Addressing the World Telecommunication/Information and Communication Technology Policy Forum (WTPF-26) here, Prime Minister Davis challenged the conventional framing of the “digital divide”, arguing that for many small and developing states, the central issue is no longer simply access to technology, but the terms on which they participate in the digital economy.
“Our people are on the platforms. Our data is in the models. Our waters carry the cables, our problem is the terms” Davis said, introducing what he called the “sovereignty discount” the hidden economic and strategic cost paid by countries when they enter negotiations without sufficient alternatives, influence or representation.
Prime Minister Davis said that disadvantage can be reflected in the cost of connectivity, restoration times following telecommunications failures, contracts negotiated on take-it-or-leave-it terms, and international technical standards developed without meaningful participation from smaller states.
“A country can be counted as connected and still be paying (the sovereignty discount) every day. Coverage tells you the signal arrived. It does not tell you who set the price.”
Prime MInister Davis said that the rapid expansion of data-driven economies, cloud services, submarine cable networks and satellite connectivity has made digital policy increasingly inseparable from questions of national sovereignty, economic participation and resilience.
He stressed, however, that The Bahamas is not advocating protectionism, technological isolation or barriers to investment.
“We are not hostile to investment. We are open, and we intend to stay open,” Prime Minister Davis said, noting that clear laws, effective regulation and interoperability can strengthen investment by creating greater certainty for both governments and the private sector.
“Capital is not frightened by rules. Capital is frightened by uncertainty,” he said in his call in which he called on SIDS to use the Nassau forum to begin developing a common negotiating position ahead of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Doha in November.
He proposed a five-point agenda centred on Data, Control, Resilience, Space and Capability.
On Data, Prime MInister Davis called for personal data to be treated as a protected national interest and for cross-border data arrangements to ensure that countries capture greater local value through skills, processing, investment and revenue.
On Control, he argued that states do not necessarily need to own digital infrastructure in order to govern it effectively, but require enforceable landing rights, meaningful licence conditions, open-access obligations and regulators capable of holding multinational operators accountable.
On Resilience, he called for telecommunications to be treated as critical national infrastructure, including stronger redundancy and restoration requirements appropriate to island states vulnerable to natural disasters.
Prime Minister Davis pointed to Tonga, which lost international connectivity for weeks after a volcanic eruption severed its sole submarine cable in 2022, as an example of the consequences of inadequate redundancy.
“Volcanoes are not policy. Redundancy is policy,” Davis said, welcoming the opportunities presented by satellite and non-terrestrial networks, particularly for geographically dispersed island states, while warning against allowing critical national connectivity to become overly dependent on individual providers beyond domestic accountability.
On the issue of Capability, Prime Minister Davis proposed greater shared technical capacity among SIDS so that smaller countries can participate effectively in the international bodies and working groups where global digital standards are developed.
“Five points. One position. Nassau to Doha,” Davis told delegates, adding that if agreement on all five areas cannot be reached during the Forum, then there should be the establishment of a formal SIDS caucus or similar mechanism, with a chair, secretariat and reporting deadline ahead of the November conference.
“We are not a small constituency. We are a small population with an enormous jurisdiction,” Davis said, pointing to the extensive maritime jurisdictions governed by SIDS and their role in licensing submarine cable landings, satellite access and spectrum use.
“It is long past time we negotiated like it,” Prime Minister Davis said as he drew on his country’s experience with Hurricane Dorian and the impact on the telecommunications sector.
He recalled that seven years after the Category 5 hurricane devastated Abaco and Grand Bahama, what many survivors urgently needed was simply the ability to communicate.
“Not a platform. Not a device. A signal,” he said, adding that the experience demonstrates why reliable communications infrastructure is particularly critical for island and disaster-vulnerable states.
The Prime Minister used the historic Elbow Reef Lighthouse in Hope Town, Abaco, as a metaphor for the wider challenge facing small states. Built during the colonial era to protect international shipping, the lighthouse later passed into Bahamian hands following independence and remains maintained locally today.
He said the lesson is not to resist technology, but to ensure that the countries affected by it have a meaningful role in determining how it is governed.
“We are not asking anyone to dim the light. We are asking for the keys.”
During his address, Prime Minister Davis said The Bahamas would seek international support for Bahamian Stephen Bereaux, The country’s candidate for Deputy Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union.
Davis noted that no SIDS had previously held the office of ITU Deputy Secretary-General, linking Bereaux’s candidacy to his broader call for greater SIDS representation in the institutions where global digital policy is shaped.
“We are not asking to be protected. We are not asking to be prioritised. We are asking to be present when the terms are set,” he said, outlining a declaration intended to define the SIDS position going into the next stage of global telecommunications negotiations:
“We will not be priced by our size. We will not be governed by our absence. And we will not accept a discount on our sovereignty.”
