Caribbean Mobile Market Overview: A Hive of Activity

Abstract

The Caribbean region has been a hive of activity over the past five years as markets have opened up. The key beneficiary to date has been Digicel, which has aggressively targeted incumbents, generally run by Cable and Wireless.

Table of Contents

• Executive summary
• In a nutshell
• Ovum view
• Key messages
• Customer demand
• Lots of small markets with excellent growth potential
• Prepaid dominates
• Key players
• Big six dominate islands and isthmus
• America Movil (Claro) showing increased interest in islands
• Telefonica (Movistar) more interested in the mainland
• Cable & Wireless: The British island incumbent
• Digicel aggressively targets incumbents
• Millicom is not giving up Central America
• Market trends
• Immaturity is a recurring theme
• Markets opening up
• ‘Bridging the digital divide' is an emerging theme
• Mobile number portability is the exception, not the rule
• Telecoms taxes are a significant source of government revenue
• Strong government influence remains
• Interconnection battles rage
• Tower-sharing enforced, but cooperation is an issue

List of Tables

• Table 1: Rankings and IDI values for Caribbean markets: 2002 and 2007

List of Figures

• Figure 1: Ten largest mobile markets in the Caribbean, year-end 2008
• Figure 2: Population and mobile penetration in the Caribbean, 2008
• Figure 3: Caribbean prepaid penetration, 2000- 2008
• Figure 4: Caribbean connections market share by operator, 4Q08
• Figure 5: Number of markets in which Caribbean operators are present, 4Q08