A 2019 update of our mobile/cellular spend Snapshot, to determine the extent to which mobile/cellular calling rates have changed across the Caribbean since our 2018 exercise.

 

It is time for us to revisit the monthly spend for mobile/cellular services in the Caribbean, based on pre-defined baskets of services. In this our latest exercise, we have examined the standalone calling rates for 23 Caribbean countries, and examined the extent to which they have changed since our last exercise, the results of which were published in May 2018.

 

Methodology

For our review of the monthly spend for mobile/cellular service in the Caribbean, we continue to use the approach presented in the Revised OECD Telecommunications Price Comparison Methodology (2006), with adjustments. The original methodology sets out three service baskets, which suggest the volume of voice calls, text messages (SMS), and multimedia messages (MMS) generated by hypothetical users. However, cognisant that to a considerable degree, instant messaging has replaced SMS and MMS, we have limited use of the OECD methodology to focus on voice calls only (see Table 1).

Table 1: Service baskets used in 2019 mobile/cellular spend calculations (Source: OECD)

 

Additionally, and to facilitate comparison, we have again limited our review and calculations to the prepaid calling rates advertised by the two largest mobile/cellular operators per country, where possible – and for which data is available. In countries where there is still a monopoly in the market, the rates of the incumbent operator were used. Table 2 lists the mobile/cellular operators included in this assessment. The rates used were sourced from the operators’ websites in May 2019.

Table 2: Telecoms operators included in 2019 mobile/cellular spend snapshot (Source: ICT Pulse)

 

The monthly spend on voice calls, based the service baskets in Table 1, was calculated in the local currency and then converted to United States Dollars (USD), using currency exchange rates as at 31 May 2019.

 

2019 monthly spend results

Using the mobile/cellular calls volumes stated for the three baskets of usage, first we compared the hypothetical monthly spend on mobile/cellular calls only, i.e. calls made on the same network; calls made to other mobile/cellular networks and calls made to the fixed network. Figure 1 shows the results.

Figure 1: Estimated monthly spend on mobile/cellular calls in select Caribbean countries as at May 2019 (Source: ICT Pulse)

 

For all call volumes, the lowest monthly spends on calls only, as of May 2019, was in Jamaica, where the amounts ranged from USD 2.44 per month for Low Volume (LV) users, USD 6.26 per month for a Medium Volume (MV) users, to USD 13.63 per month for High Volume (HV) users. On the other hand, the highest monthly spend across all baskets was recorded in the Aruba, where amounts ranged from USD 21.18 to USD 118.44 per month. Additionally, for mobile/cellular calls only across the region, on average:

  • LV users would spend approximately USD 56 per month
  • MV users would spend approximately USD 72 per month
  • HV users would spend approximately USD 04 per month.

 

How do this year’s results compare with those for 2018?

Over the past year, there have been some noticeable changes in the monthly spend for mobile/cellular voice calls across the countries examined, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Percentage change in the monthly spends between 2018 and 2019 in select Caribbean countries (Source ICT Pulse)

 

Eleven out of the 23 countries examined experienced some change in their prepaid rates, although for 10 of them, the change can be considered relatively minor – less than 10%. The exception was Aruba, which recorded the greatest increase, of almost 13% across all the calling baskets. On the other hand, the greatest decrease in mobile spends was recorded in Trinidad and Tobago. A 5.5% drop in the spend was recorded for each calling baskets.

 

Final thoughts…

Over the period under review, and on average, mobile/cellular calling rates have increased slightly, by 1.6%, across the Caribbean region. This relatively small change could be due to inflationary adjustments in some countries, but it may also point to the efforts by the carriers to claw back as much revenue as they can, and even to compensate for changing customer behaviour and preferences, thanks to over the top (OTT) services.

As indicated earlier, the prevalence of OTT services, such as WhatsApp, have effectively rendered SMS and MMS obsolete. Texting via instant messaging services has become the norm, with SMS being used when consumers do not have access to the Internet.

Having said this, mobile/cellular service still needs to be profitable for the carriers. The relatively high cost of doing business in the region, which would include shipping and importation costs, the cost of fuel and electricity, even the replacement cost for theft of materials and equipment, tend to be considered in order to determine rates payable by consumers.

 

 

Image credit:  Erik (HASH) Hersman (flickr)