Diversity: an asset in the Caribbean’s path towards ICT innovation

People who know me understand my special relationship with the Caribbean, that fascinating place where pirates become heroes and idyllic beaches are just part of everyday life. It is in this Caribbean where zombies reached universality, while the Chupacabras stopped being West Indian to become a citizen of the world. The Caribbean bears many of humanity’s fears but is also a place where words from Carpentier, Walcott, Fanon, and Naipaul are fused in rebellion songs calling for equality, human rights, and even independence, as in the case of Nevis.

For these and many other reasons, participating in events organized about this little part of the world will always be my privilege. My role will always be to link those familiar with the Latin American telecommunications landscape with those focused on the competitive dynamics of the non-Spanish-speaking Caribbean Basin telecom markets.

The Caribbean is almost always ignored in all hemispheric and global discussions about telecommunications. It is easier to research 20 large countries in Latin America (including three Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands) than to think of the Caribbean, a region comprised of 33 markets (again including the same three Caribbean islands) with dissimilar cultural heritage, heterogeneous legal frameworks, and various languages.

Part of the ignorance towards this region arises from its fragmentation and the small size of most of its markets. It is extremely complex to analyze and understand a region barely exceeding 40 million inhabitants, different legal frameworks, and spectrum allocations following channelization from Regions 1 to 3 for different spectrum frequencies.

Nevertheless, throughout the years, I have emphasized that the Caribbean has an important role as a window into the future due to the high levels of technological innovation in several of its markets. For example, in several islands, we find that the levels of fiber optic penetration to the household easily surpass 50%, being the undisputed leader of this line Barbados, with more than 85% of the homes with FTTH and around 106% penetration of mobile broadband services by year-end 2016. Figures much higher than any continental market – the most advanced being Uruguay, with about 76% FTTH penetration – including Canada and the United States.

Suppose the development of wireless technologies is of interest. In that case, the Caribbean presents us with international wireless transport models such as fixed point-to-point connections made possible by the proximity of many of its islands. Mobile penetration levels are among the highest in the world with around 12 markets exceeding 150% – Antigua & Barbuda above the 200% penetration mark. Figures that look more amazing when one learns that most of those top 12 mobile markets only have two operators offering service.

The Caribbean Basin also has a high density of submarine fiber optic cables, with Curaçao and Puerto Rico leading this telecommunications industry segment. If the observer is interested in the rapid adoption of new technologies, the first LTE and LTE Advanced commercial networks of Latin America were launched in Puerto Rico in 2011 and 2014, respectively, the latter two years before the first launch of LTE Advanced in Chile.

Nor do I want to imply that everything is progress and innovation in the Caribbean. There are markets where the commercialization of telecommunications services is extremely complex due to political instability, the extension of existing infrastructure, and the low purchasing power of its inhabitants, as is the case in Haiti. Even the Amazon jungle has a role to play; it presents an obstacle to providing connectivity to the population living in isolated locations (i.e., far from the coast) in countries like Guyana and Suriname, as well as France’s overseas department, French Guiana.

This variety of realities provides multiple examples of how to offer profitable telecom services in markets that have already surpassed saturation levels. The small size of many Caribbean islands means that new technologies are adopted more rapidly than in the rest of the hemisphere. For this reason, when discussing diversifying services and consolidation and looking for ways to monetize the presence of nationals in other parts of the world, we may find more successful business models in the Caribbean than in Latin America.

For example, Latin American operators have been trying for years without much success to obtain benefits from their immigrant communities in the United States and Europe.  Surinamese operator Telesur has maintained the operation of a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) in the Netherlands for almost a decade. In addition, at year-end of 2016, Surinam had a network of about 80 radio bases of LTE to offer fixed broadband services, relying on point-to-point links in the band of 3.5 GHz to offer backhaul.

Unfortunately, not all is good news in the northern part of South America. A project to connect isolated locations that was going to be supported by LTE TDD was abandoned by Guyana’s authorities a few years ago.

From a regulatory perspective, the only supranational regulatory entity in the Americas is found in the Caribbean, a telecommunications regulator with jurisdiction in five independent countries of the Lesser Antilles. The Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) is the highest telecommunications authority for Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts & Nevis, and Saint Vincent & the Grenadines.

The Caribbean Basin is a region where traditional copper and fiber optics networks connect every household to microwave equipment to establish point-to-point transport links between neighboring islands or provide connectivity to a village in the middle of the Amazon. Governments from this region are adapting and learning to use different technologies to bring their service to users.

Although the Caribbean is close to many of us geographically, our knowledge about its markets is mostly limited to white-sand beaches, exotic drinks, and great singers.