Ecuador’s digital landscape is marked by steady growth, regional leadership in ethics-driven innovation, and ongoing efforts to close structural gaps in connectivity and capacity. The country has made significant strides in expanding its digital infrastructure, with major investments in submarine cable systems such as the Mistral, PCCS, and the upcoming CSN-1, enhancing international bandwidth and regional integration. Domestically, initiatives under the National Broadband Plan aim to improve fixed and mobile access, especially in underserved rural areas, while the presence of IXPs and data centers continues to strengthen Ecuador’s internet resilience. Despite logistical and postal delivery challenges, the e-commerce sector has grown rapidly, projected to reach nearly US $3.9 billion by 2025, with a strong mobile-first consumer base and increasing diversification of product categories.
On the regulatory front, Ecuador has demonstrated leadership in digital governance. The 2021 Organic Law on the Protection of Personal Data (LOPDP) established a GDPR-inspired framework for data privacy, giving individuals clear rights and imposing strong compliance obligations on organisations. Although enforcement mechanisms and the Data Protection Authority are still being operationalised, international collaboration with entities like the Council of Europe and UNESCO is helping to shape implementation and alignment with global standards.
Ecuador’s position in the Latin American AI landscape is especially notable for its ethics-first approach. It was the first country in the region to adopt a public-sector AI Code of Ethics and among the first to pilot UNESCO’s Readiness Assessment Methodology. While actual AI adoption remains low across most businesses—primarily limited to basic marketing tasks—national efforts are focusing on capacity-building, talent development, and safe AI ecosystem design, supported by academic institutions and international organisations.
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El Salvador’s digital transformation is framed by its Digital Agenda 2020–2030, which prioritises digital identity, state modernisation, governance, and innovation. Complementary assessments such as the Digital Ecosystem Country Assessment (DECA) and the World Bank’s DE4LAC have outlined infrastructure gaps, regulatory shortcomings, and low digital literacy, but also identified strong opportunities in e-government integration and financial inclusion. Recent laws on cybersecurity and data protection created the State Cybersecurity Agency (ACE), tasked with overseeing standards, managing risks, and enforcing regulations, though concerns persist about broad state powers over digital content and civil liberties.
Connectivity is a central priority. Approximately 77% of Salvadorans are online, with mobile coverage reaching 93% of the territory and 92% of the population having access to at least 3G. Fixed broadband has improved significantly, recording one of the fastest growth rates in the region with median speeds exceeding 70 Mbps. Government initiatives such as ‘Connecting El Salvador‘, supported by international financing, are extending free public Wi-Fi to parks, schools, and community spaces. At the same time, Starlink’s deployment since 2023 has expanded access to high-speed, low-latency satellite internet.
Strategically, the country is moving forward with its first submarine cable project, a milestone that will link El Salvador directly to Panama and regional backbones, enhancing international bandwidth and reducing reliance on neighbouring countries’ infrastructure. Supported by the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) and aligned with EU Global Gateway priorities, this investment places El Salvador on a path toward greater digital sovereignty.
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Internet governance in Saudi Arabia involves a structured approach to regulating digital activities, promoting infrastructure growth, and aligning with international standards. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Communications, Space, and Technology Commission play crucial roles in overseeing policies, maintaining regulations, and advancing digital transformation in line with the government program Vision 2030. The country is also recognised for its advancements in digital government services, currently ranking 6th on the UN’s E-Government Development Index (EGDI). This ranking reflects the ongoing efforts to enhance the effectiveness and reach of government digital services.
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Micronesia’s (FSM) strongest digital asset is its diversified international connectivity for a small island economy. By 2019–2025, each of the four states gained a fiber route: Pohnpei via HANTRU-1; Chuuk via the Chuuk–Pohnpei inter-island cable (RFS 27 April 2019); Yap via a spur into SEA-US; and Kosrae through the East Micronesia Cable (EMC), which made its final landing on 16 August 2025. The diversified, multi-path setup spreads risk and increases bandwidth compared with many peers that still rely on single paths. FSM also commissioned a Starlink community gateway in Kosrae (21 February 2025) to add resilience while EMC comes online.
In terms of governance and market structure, FSM stands out regionally for its early liberalisation and an open-access wholesale model. The 2014 Telecom Act created an independent Telecommunication Regulation Authority (TRA) and enabled the FSM Telecommunications Cable Corporation (CableCorp) to operate subsea and wholesale fiber as a neutral wholesale-only provider, a framework choice that many Pacific economies have moved toward more gradually. These reforms are documented in the Act and program materials for new entrants.
FSM also controls a globally recognisable ccTLD, “.fm”, managed by the state operator (FSMTC). While not a mass-adoption metric, the namespace is unusually visible worldwide because of its association with audio brands and podcasts, giving the country an outsized digital “footprint” relative to population.
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Cambodia’s digital profile couples redundant international connectivity with a mature domestic exchange. Two submarine cables, MCT (RFS 2017) and AAE-1 (operational since 2017), land at Sihanoukville, complemented by terrestrial cross-border fibre to Thailand, Laos, and Vietnam; domestic traffic is kept local through the Cambodian Network Exchange (CNX), operating since 2008 and peering across multiple Phnom Penh data centres.
Where Cambodia stands out regionally is real-time retail payments: the central bank’s Bakong/KHQR network underpins wide domestic use and multi-country QR interoperability (live corridors with Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, plus links with UPI/Alipay and South Korea). In 2024, Bakong processed transactions equivalent to roughly 330% of the country’s GDP, underscoring the depth of usage for a lower-middle-income economy.
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Senegal has built one of the more structured digital-governance frameworks in West Africa, but it is still in transition. Its earlier SN2025 strategy is now being superseded by the ‘New Deal Technologique‘ (2025–2034), launched in February 2025 and centred on digital sovereignty, digitised public services, universal connectivity, digital industry, and a planned biometric-based unique digital identity. On the UN’s 2024 E-Government Development Index, Senegal ranked 135th of 193, up from 143rd in 2022, while its E-Participation rank improved to 105th.
The ‘New Deal Technologique’ for a digital state
Senegal’s ‘New Deal Technologique‘, launched in February 2025, marks a shift from incremental ICT reform to a more integrated model of digital governance. Framed within the broader Senegal 2050 vision, the strategy aims to align infrastructure, public services, data, and innovation under a single national agenda. Its priorities include universal connectivity, digitised administration, support for startups and digital industries, and the rollout of a unified biometric digital identity. The plan also places strong emphasis on digital sovereignty, particularly through local data hosting, cybersecurity, and control over critical infrastructure.
In terms of infrastructure, Senegal stands out regionally for its relatively high connectivity density. The country has a formal National Broadband Plan, while ARTP’s Q2 2024 market data showed 20.8 million internet lines, with 97.55% mobile, and fixed broadband at about 509,674 lines. In early 2026, Sonatel announced the operational launch of the 2Africa submarine cable in Senegal, adding capacity and resilience to a market already preparing for 5G through regulatory consultation rather than a standalone 5G strategy.
Senegal’s digital economy is supported by older but still important enabling laws and newer industrial-policy tools. Law No. 2008-08 on electronic transactions provides the legal basis for e-commerce, while the Startup Act (Law No. 2020-01) was designed to support innovative firms using new technologies. In payments, Senegal operates within the BCEAO framework rather than a purely national fintech regime; BCEAO’s latest list shows a significant electronic-money market in the country, underlining the importance of mobile money and regulated digital payments to the wider digital economy.
Senegal has also moved ahead of many peers on AI, data, cloud, and emerging technologies, though implementation remains uneven. The country published a National AI Strategy in 2023 and a National Data Strategy (2023–2028), both of which frame AI and data in terms of development, ethics, and sovereignty. On infrastructure, Dakar has gained new, higher-end digital capacity through AWS Wavelength, described by AWS as its first Wavelength Zone in Sub-Saharan Africa, and through the announced 2025 data centre investment by PAIX Data Centres.
Senegal’s Permanent Mission in Geneva represents the country to the UN Office at Geneva and other international organisations based there, while also serving as Senegal’s embassy in Switzerland. According to UN Geneva’s Blue Book and the mission’s official website, it is based at the International Centre Cointrin (ICC), Route de Pré-Bois 20, Building H, 4th floor, 1215 Genève 15. Its work spans diplomatic engagement with Geneva-based multilateral bodies and consular/public-facing services through the mission website.
Iraq’s most notable digital strength today is interconnection. IRAQ-IXP (Baghdad), powered by DE-CIX, became the Middle East’s third-largest internet exchange within its first year, connecting dozens of networks (including major CDNs) and lifting local traffic peaks, an uncommon leap for a new IXP in the region.
International connectivity is consolidating around Al-Faw (Basra), where Iraq already has GBI and FALCON and is adding new systems such as Ooredoo’s Fibre-in-Gulf (FIG), with government announcements pointing to a sixth subsea cable by 2026/27. This, coupled with plans to route traffic over terrestrial fiber north to Türkiye, positions Iraq as a growing Gulf–to–Europe transit corridor.
On the domestic side, a state-backed 5G program with Vodafone aims to accelerate next-gen coverage, while official e-signatures launched in 2025 provide a legal and operational anchor for digital government and online services. Early AI capacity development, such as the University of Baghdad’s new College of Artificial Intelligence (AY 2025/26), adds to the talent pipeline. These moves don’t yet make Iraq a regional leader across all indicators, but they mark measurable steps where the country is starting to stand out.
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Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) runs a compact but steadily modernising internet stack. International capacity lands via the Eastern Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS), with newer regional diversity from Digicel’s Deep Blue One/Southern Caribbean Fiber, while domestic interconnection is anchored by the national IXP SVGIX (launched in 2016). These pieces lower latency and improve resilience for a small island market.
On the policy side, SVG updated its telecom rulebook by passing the Electronic Communications Bill on 24 October 2022, aligning with the ECTEL regional framework. The regulator and operators have also refarmed spectrum. Flow shut down 2G in September 2023 to strengthen 3G/4G capacity supporting better mobile broadband performance.
In digital finance, SVG shares in a notable regional first: the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank’s DCash was the world’s first retail CBDC publicly issued within a currency union (launched 31 March 2021). The pilot closed on 12 January 2024 as the ECCB prepares a commercial-grade ‘DCash 2.0,’ but the episode remains a standout innovation marker for the sub-region.
Looking at resilience and inclusion, Internet Society’s Pulse index rates SVG’s Internet medium on resilience overall score 49%, with local initiatives aimed at strengthening the baseline, for example, the NTRC–Flow Schools’ Project III signed in August 2025 to upgrade bandwidth to all schools. Together with the IXP and diversified subsea routes, these measures point to gradual improvements in reliability and access.
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Dominica’s internet stack is small but well-structured. International capacity is provided via the Eastern Caribbean Fibre System (ECFS), which terminates in Roseau/St. George, with additional regional diversity from Digicel’s Deep Blue One/Southern Caribbean Fiber routes nearby, together improving resilience for OECS markets. A national internet exchange, DANIX, has been live since 2013 under the Universal Service Fund, keeping domestic traffic local and reducing latency, a key metric for a microstate.
Policy is anchored by the whole-of-government National Digital Transformation Strategy 2022–2026 and NTRC regulatory instruments (numbering, QoS, USF), which channel funding into community access points and public site connectivity. In digital finance, Dominica participated in the ECCB’s DCash retail CBDC, the first such pilot in a currency union, which ran from March 2021 until 12 January 2024, a regional innovation milestone, even though the pilot has now closed.
The legal toolkit for online activity is functional, with the Electronic Transactions Act (2013) and Electronic Evidence Act (2010), but notable gaps remain: no comprehensive data-protection law or authority, and no adopted national cybersecurity strategy to date. Overall, Dominica stands out in the region for having an operational IXP (DANIX) and a current digital-transformation strategy, while continuing to build out last-mile access under the USF and CARDTP programmes.
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