Ministers for ICT across the Caribbean region have indicated their intention to lobby telecoms carriers in the region about removing roaming charges. We discuss the issue, and whether this critical initiative can be achieved.
Occasionally, and if you have been paying attention over the past several years, you may have seen reports on policymakers across the Caribbean region calling for the removal of roaming charges in the region. Specifically, it means that for mobile/cellular devices registered on a network in one Caribbean country, they should not be paying roaming charges when they are used in another Caribbean country.
Over the past several months, and as efforts to move towards the Caribbean Single ICT Space continue to unfold, calls for the removal of the mobile/cellular charges have become more frequent. Most recently, Ministers with responsibility for ICT have agreed to collectively approach the carriers in the region about eliminating roaming charges throughout the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) (Source: CARICOM Today).
Typically, roaming charges would apply for all services you access outside of your local coverage area, and would include both incoming and outgoing voice calls, SMS (text messages), MMS (picture messages), and mobile/cellular data. As a result, those charges can add up pretty quickly, to the point where many of us know at least one person who had a unpleasant surprise from their local service provider!
What currently is the situation in the Caribbean
In Caribbean countries where regional carriers Digicel and Flow have a presence, some adjustments have been made with respect to whether roaming charges. For example, if you are a Flow (or Digicel) customer in one country, and visit another Caribbean country in which Flow (or Digicel) operates, one might find that incoming calls and texts from your home country are free. However, many may argue that whatever the arrangements are, they are not consistently applied, and users may not understand key aspects of roaming charges framework, such as which services attract, and do not attract roaming fees, and the circumstances under which they apply.
To that end, and as Jennifer Britton, Deputy Programme Manager, ICT for Development (ICT4D) at the CARICOM Secretariat, indicated when we had her on the ICT Pulse Podcast in August 2018 to discuss the Single ICT Space, one of the then imminent priorities was to approach the carriers about removing roaming charges across the region. However, in our follow-up discussion, which was released this past September, she admitted that whilst there had been progress, the process to engage the relevant parties and stakeholders has been slow.
Will the elimination of roaming charges also suffer a ‘crisis of will?’
In light of last week’s meeting of Caribbean Ministers for ICT, and the assertions made – which suggests there will be an active effort on their part to engage the carriers on removing the roaming charges – can we be hopeful that those charges will soon become a thing of the past? I am not so sure…
The reason for my reticence is the current states of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) and of the Single ICT Space.
At the time of publishing, CSME is almost 30 years in the making, with the development strategy being tabled in 1990, and the CARICOM Single Market being implemented in 2006. However, to the man on the street, it would appear that we are nowhere close to realising CSME. Further, it should be noted that the Single ICT Space is supposed to be the technology-based foundation upon which to advance realisation of CSME. However, and based on our earlier conversations with Jennifer Britton, the region is way behind on many of the timelines and initiatives that are need to be completed towards establishing a Single ICT Space.
It was thus a compelling observation made by Barbadian Prime Minister, Mia Mottley, that “CARICOM leaders are gripped by a ‘crisis of will’”, which also seemed to capture her own frustration on the slow pace of regional integration (Source: Barbados Today). Over the years – decades – there have been lots of meetings, and decisions, on CSME and on the Single ICT Space. but the follow-through by the individual countries, and region as a whole, has been debilitating slow.
So can we expect anything different with respect to the elimination of roaming charges across the region? Will that initiative also be subject to a crisis of wills?
Admittedly, negotiating with the Caribbean mobile/cellular carriers for the elimination of roaming charges in the region ought to be nowhere as complex as implementing CSME, or even the Single ICT Space. In fact, the elimination of roaming charges is considered ‘low hanging fruit’ by Ambassador Irwin LaRocque, Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of CARICOM, and as such, that quick win “should be realised as soon as practically possible” (Source: CARICOM Today).
However, as mentioned above, the lack of follow-through by Caribbean countries has been one of the challenges that has plagued CARICOM, and has stymied the progress, and the speed of progress, it could have made on a number of issues. For example, although all of the Member Countries might agree on an issue, or to adopt a particular course of action, at the CARICOM level, when the Ministers or Prime Ministers return home, the actions that should be taken, in order for a regional and harmonised posture to be realised, do not occur. In a similar vein, and although the Ministers for ICT have agreed that roaming charges should be eliminated, what will they actually do when they return to their home countries to advance this issue?
A long fight may be ahead
In the current paradigm, telecoms carriers in the region are experiencing a number of challenges, including the following:
- decreasing profits
- the aggressive focus on streamlining operations and managing costs
- continually eroding revenue streams due to a broad range of factors, such as Wi-Fi and over the top services
- the growing expectations among consumers, regulators and policymakers about the quality and standard of service that should be provided.
Currently, data on revenues from roaming for Caribbean carriers is not publicly available, but it is likely that the mobile/cellular carriers are unlikely to readily acquiesce to the loss of yet another revenue stream.
In response, Caribbean countries may need to be prepared to negotiate with the carriers and give them something in return. Arguably, and in relation to the offers that can be made, there ought to be a regional position on such issues, which most likely would require a series of meetings and hopefully agreements, but ultimately also introducing layers of complexity into the process.
In summary, the effort for CARICOM countries to approach Caribbean telecoms providers about removing roaming charges in the region may be a true test – perhaps in recent memory – of the strength and cohesion of CARICOM and of the region. The desired outcome can only be achieved if all of the countries are properly represented and actively participate in the process. If we fail at what should be a quick win, we may need to think long and hard about whether CSME and the Single ICT Space can truly be achieved.
Image credit: PublicDomainPictures (Pixabay)
