II
COUNTRY OVERVIEWS This chapter presents the current state of sector reform and in certain cases specific recommendations for action in the following countries: The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Jamaica, the ECTEL members of the OECS (Dominica, Grenada, St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines), Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago. Observations on regulatory barriers (Chapter V) and recommendations for regional initiatives (Chapter VI) pertain also to these countries.
II.1
The Bahamas
II.1.1 Introduction The Bahamas has a population of approximately 300,000 and a per capita GDP of US$ 16,000, of which tourism and financial services account for 40% and 15%, respectively. Of the 700 islands that make up the archipelago, there are only 30 which are inhabited. Of these the most populated are New Providence, Grand Bahama and Abaco with, respectively, 70%, 16% and 4% of the population. The islands of Andros and Eleuthera each have about 2½ % of the population. The area covered by The Bahamas is 5,358 sq. miles (13,878 sq km) extending some 760 miles east of Florida to almost Haiti. The Bahamas has a fixed line penetration rate of about 43%, a mobile penetration rate of 64%, an Internet access penetration of 13%. Also, of the some 88,000 households over 70 % subscribe to the country’s only cable TV network. II.1.2 Telecommunications service provision and prices Telecommunications service provision is dominated by one company, the 100% state owned Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited (BTC), which has exclusivity for cellular mobile service and is one of two fixed voice telephone licence holders. All other services except cable TV distribution are open to competition. Like other Caribbean countries, where until recently virtually all telecommunications services were provided by a single company, local fixed telephone services have been very inexpensive while inter island and international calling have been relatively expensive. Regular calling rates range from U $ 0. 18/min to US$ 0.51/min for calls among the islands and to the USA, US$ 0.54/min for calls to Canada, US$ 1.75 for calls to Cuba, US$ 0.70/min for calls to the rest of the Caribbean and US$ 0.89/min for calls to the rest of the world. Because of these high rates there has been a significant growth of illegal Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) alternatives such as Vonage, which under one of its plans offers unlimited calls in all North America for a flat fee of US$ 25/month and calls to other destination at rates which are substantially lower than those of BTC. Some observers estimate that up to 70% of outgoing international traffic bypasses BTC’s network with 30 – 40% of business subscribers using such alternatives. Because of this and the recently announced rates of the new entrant in the fixed voice telephone market, System Resources Group (Indigo), BTC in October 2004 reduced its international calling prices by up to 70%. 18