Guest post: Analysis of the Caribbean Telecom market (2010)

Liberalization of the telecommunications industry has taken place in most Caribbean countries, with operators in these countries now being able to offer a full range of telecom services. Despite being relatively small markets by global standards, telecommunications has become one of the Caribbean’s major growth industries.

While in a handful of countries Cable & Wireless (now rebranded LIME) still holds a monopoly in the fixed-line sector, many countries now have other operators offering fixed-line services at competitive prices. Nevertheless, mobile has been the preferred technology for the region.

The region’s mobile subscriber base has been witnessing significant growth in recent years driven, in particular, by aggressive competition from Digicel. During 2009 the region, which relies heavily on tourism, suffered double digit declines in incoming tourist numbers due to the global economic downturn, effectively triggering a recessionary environment in most Caribbean nations. Nevertheless, by early 2010 there were some positive signs of rebounding tourist numbers and offshore company activity, such that most countries were expected to emerge from recession within the following twelve months.

The following report provides an overview of the Caribbean’s telecom sector accompanied by relevant statistics and a brief profile of the major players. Enjoy it.

Diego Fernandez – Guest blogger

“Diego Fernandez is an experienced telecom consultant that help organizations implement commercial, marketing and business initiatives, from the project definition and socialization across the board, getting the internal buy in from project stakeholders, to -through a Project & Program Management structure- the implementation phase, involving Demand Management and support departments. He’s also a blog contributor in Consultantvalueadded and recurrent collaborator within the mmC Group.”