Figure 1: Monthly spend on mobile\/cellular service in the select Caribbean countries (Source: operator websites)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Low Volume (LV) user spends on average USD\u00a014.29 per month. Medium Volume (MV) users typically spend USD\u00a033.55 per month, whilst for High Volume (HV) users, their estimated monthly spend is USD\u00a068.89.<\/p>\n

Factors to consider<\/h3>\n

Across the Caribbean, there is a wide disparity in the price of mobile services based on expenditure for specified baskets of services. Monthly spend, regardless of basket, can vary by over 300% across the region.<\/p>\n

Although there might still be some expectation that rates in the region can get even lover, some key factors that would affect the extent to which that can occur are outlined below. These considerations could also account for the diverse calling rates observed in the region.<\/p>\n

\n
• Population<\/strong> \u2013 smaller populations tend to correspond to smaller economies of scale, which in turn can be reflected as higher calling rates.<\/li>\n
• Per Capita Income\/GDP<\/strong> \u2013 the amount that persons are prepared to spend on mobile service will influence calling rates. For those who are prepared to spend very little, for example by purchasing the lowest prepaid amount or topping up infrequently, rates will be affected since call volumes would be relatively low. Moreover, operators experience some degree of uncertainty with regard to revenue streams from their pre-paid service: it is not guaranteed to be consistent. When this uncertainty is coupled with the predominance of pre-paid plans in the region, their calling rates tend to be higher than on post-paid plans.<\/li>\n
• Level of competition <\/strong>\u2013 a basic principle of economics is that competition drives down prices: as competition increases rates will decrease. However, as markets mature and operators become established, an equilibrium can exist where there are no appreciable changes in calling rates. The situation is especially evident when there are two or more key players of more or less equal market share in the same market. There might be regular market promotions, or a slight rate adjustment, but the operators are no longer actively engaging in spirited jostling to increase their customer base.<\/li>\n
• Topology\/level of urbanisation<\/strong> \u2013 geographical topology and the level of urbanisation have a considerable impact on network build-out, its associated costs, and thus the calling rates that are implemented. In flatter or more densely populated countries, where basic infrastructure is well established, relatively lower rates can be expected.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  To an appreciable extent, all of the above factors affect the cost of providing service, along with profitability and return on investment (RoI). Although we, the users, see telecoms service and our mobile phones as indispensible \u2013 along the lines of electricity and water \u2013 these services are delivered by private, commercial entities. As a result, their operations must be profitable and must yield a sufficient RoI for even the current levels of service to continue. Moreover, given the disparity in populations, incomes and geographies within the region, mobile rates will likely continue to vary considerably between Caribbean countries for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n

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

  Over the last 10 years, the introduction of affordable mobile\/cellular service has transformed the telecoms landscape in the Caribbean. Continuing with our \u201cSnapshot\u201d series, we compare the amounts spent in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[17,19,18,22],"tags":[59,14,32,61,63],"class_list":["post-637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-caribbean","category-mobile-telecoms-2","category-telecoms-2","category-wireless","tag-digital-divide","tag-ict4d","tag-information-society","tag-snapshot-series","tag-survey","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2iE1G-ah","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"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=637"}],"version-history":[{"count":45,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":754,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637\/revisions\/754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}