{"id":161880,"date":"2022-02-25T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=161880"},"modified":"2022-02-24T20:28:33","modified_gmt":"2022-02-25T01:28:33","slug":"regional-roaming-rates-finally-eliminated-no-not-so-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2022\/02\/regional-roaming-rates-finally-eliminated-no-not-so-fast\/","title":{"rendered":"Regional roaming rates finally eliminated? No, not so fast\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On 23 February 2022, the Declaration of St George\u2019s, Towards the Reduction of Intra CARICOM Roaming Charges was signed, which will result in the reduction in roaming charges in the Caribbean region. We discuss this latest development, and what it may take for roaming charges to be completely eliminated.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On Wednesday, 23 February, the Declaration of St George\u2019s, Towards the Reduction of Intra CARICOM Roaming Charges, was signed in Grenada, between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and regional network operators, Digicel Group and Cable and Wireless Communication. According to the press release<\/a> issued by the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Declaration will result in the reduction of intra-CARICOM roaming charges and facilitate the provision of seamless mobile (cellular) services, including voice, SMS text and data. CARICOM residents will now roam in CARICOM States at significantly reduced cost, up to 70% savings by one estimate. Importantly, as mentioned by the Digicel and Cable and Wireless\u2019 representatives, citizens\u2019 charges will be predictable and transparent thus resulting in the elimination of severe bill shock that has been experienced in the past.\u201c
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It is expected that the reduced roaming charges will come into effect between the second and third quarter of this calendar year. This time frame would allow the necessary system and network reconfigurations to be completed, along with implementation of the associated public awareness campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A quick overview of the roaming issue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As was noted in the press release, the existence of roaming charges between Caribbean countries has been a longstanding issue and a source of consternation among Caribbean travellers. As was noted in our 2019 article, Caribbean roaming charges: when will they truly be eliminated?<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, there seemed to be two key challenges. First, that roaming charges existed when travelling between Caribbean countries, and especially in countries where the main regional providers, Digicel and Cable and Wireless Communication (which operates the brand, Flow) have a presence. Second, users did not appear to understand the roaming charges framework, and so did not always know which services attracted roaming charges, and under what circumstances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, and from at least 2018, the elimination of roaming charges across the Caribbean region was identified as a priority by CARICOM. However, four years later, thanks to this week\u2019s agreement, there will be a reduction in the roaming charges \u2013 but they have not been eliminated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baby steps within a larger construct?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Without a doubt, the reduction in roaming charges falls short of the goal set by CARICOM, which was the elimination of roaming charges. Further, and although the reduction is indeed an achievement, it emphasises the fact that from a telecoms and ICT perspective, the CARICOM region might not be as unified as one might think or expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ought to keep in mind that there does not yet appear to be decisive initiatives implemented to realise the CARICOM Single ICT Space, which would be a demonstration of a unified and harmonised posture by the region. More importantly, the elimination of national borders \u2013 which currently still exist \u2013 it would signal a significant paradigm shift in how telecoms and ICT is to be approached in the CARICOM region, and send a clear message to all stakeholders going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the absence of the CARICOM Single ICT Space, though with the support of Member Countries, it could be argued that CARICOM might not have had enough leverage to secure the full elimination of roaming charges. Hence, the press release suggests that the reduction in charges is a first step, and an important next step is the creation of a single ICT regulatory environment \u2013 which would be essential to realising the Single ICT Space. However, timelines or a roadmap for creating this single ICT regulatory environment have not been divulged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Within the coming months, CARICOM countries should experience a reduction in roaming charges, which per the CTU press release will be implemented in a predictable and transparent manner. However, noting that the details of the anticipated reductions have not yet been made publicly available, it is unclear how significant the reductions in fact will be, relative to the current fee structure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, and although CARICOM ought to be commended for getting the Declaration of St George\u2019s signed, it is crucial that we continue to emphasise that the reduction of roaming charges was not the goal. However, it is unclear whether policymakers know what it will take to achieve the full elimination of roaming rates, and the extent to which we are on track to do so, within a time fashion. As was noted in in our recent article, Will acceleration of the region\u2019s digital transformation effort be too little too late?<\/a><\/em><\/strong>, by the time roaming rates are eliminated, it may moot point and be of little value or significance to all concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To that end, the region needs to continue to move with alacrity to eliminate roaming rates, and to also realise that Single ICT Space and the CARICOM Single Market and Economy. The global and regional ICT space is highly dynamic, and the CARICOM countries are falling behind, in terms of their competitiveness, productivity, as well as their economic and social development. Having said this, and across the region, we already have numerous plans, programmes and initiatives, but now we need to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Image credit: Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 23 February 2022, the Declaration of St George\u2019s, Towards the Reduction of Intra CARICOM Roaming Charges was signed, which will result in the reduction in roaming charges in the Caribbean region. We discuss this latest development, and what it may take for roaming charges to be completely eliminated.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[71,212,290,12],"class_list":["post-161880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ict-tech","tag-businesses","tag-policy-2","tag-rates","tag-regulation","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/Airplane-landing-at-zurich-airport-Wikimedia-Commons.jpeg?fit=1024%2C688&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-G6Y","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161880"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161884,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161880\/revisions\/161884"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}