Jamaica - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

Jamaica - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

Mobile licence of Jamaica's third operator under review
Jamaica's telecom sector is largely propped up by the maturing mobile sector. The merger between Digicel and Claro's Jamaican business in 2012 strengthened Digicel's dominance of the sector. Both Digicel and is only rival, Flow (supported by its new owner Liberty Global), have extended their 3G network across the island and have also invested in developing their LTE services. This progress has considerably improved access to broadband services, with mobile internet accounting for the vast majority of internet access. The regulator has endeavoured to develop the MVNO sector in a bid to improve competition. Although it had intended to licence up to 12 operators, only one licence, to Symbiote Investments, has been made thus far. The licence award was under review in early 2017 in relation to the company's association with a bribery scandal.
In early 2015 Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) acquired Columbus Communications, so consolidating its leading market position in the region. The existing Flow brand for pay-TV services in Jamaica was extended to all of Cable & Wireless's Caribbean footprint by May 2016. This also affected CWC's LIME brand, which has come under the Flow moniker. The acquisition of CWC by Liberty Global, agreed in November 2015 and which received approval by Liberty Global's shareholders in April 2016, has placed additional pressure on Digicel, given that both operators are pursuing a converged services strategy for their businesses in the region.
This report contains overviews, analyses and statistics of the Jamaican fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets together with information on convergence issues and on the country's fixed line incumbent and major mobile operators.
Key telecom penetration by service 2016 (e)
Subscriber penetration rate by service: | Penetration
Fixed-broadband | 6.3%
Fixed-line telephony | 9.2%
Mobile SIM | 118%
(Source: BuddeComm)

Key developments:

Regulator begins probe into Symbiote's mobile licence award;
Ericsson completes network upgrade for CW Jamaica;
Digicel and CW Jamaica expand LTE services reach;
Digicel expands FttP network, demonstrates XG-PON technology providing data at up to 10Gb/s;
Digicel completes nationwide WiMAX network using 2.5GHz spectrum assets;
Flow embarks on $150 million investment program in Jamaica;
Flow secures spectrum in the AWS band between 1710MHz and 2200MHz;
East-West cable between Jamaica, the British Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic augments capacity for data and telephony services.
Government sets up Quality of Service platform to incorporate fixed, mobile and internet services;
IXP opened to improve domestic internet traffic flow and reduce costs;
Digicel begins Group reorganisation;
Updated report includes the regulator's market report for 2015, operator data to Q4 2016, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Columbus Communications, Digicel, Cable & Wireless, Flow, LIME, Liberty Global