New life discovered under water in the Caribbean Basin
A friend of mine recently said to me, “You know, when the telecom market picks up, it won’t be a ‘turnaround’, it will be an entirely new and different market.” Nowhere is this truer than in the Caribbean. For, while the submarine cable market itself went into a coma, other drivers in the commercial environment, such as free trade agreements, privatisation, de-regulation, market liberalisation, and broadband penetration have continued to operate. So what is the demand forecast for the Caribbean? Where are the growth opportunities and how attractive are they?
The Caribbean Market The Caribbean submarine cable market is fragmented. With the exception of concerted action by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) to end the monopolies of Cable & Wireless, each Caribbean state generally follows its own telecom development strategy. As a result, there is a broad range of growth rates for the 21 Caribbean nations included in a recent study by Pioneer Consulting. Demand for submarine capacity on each island is forecast to grow at anywhere between 12% and 34% per year. Most of this growth is coming from Internet demand.
by J ulian R awle Julian Ra wle,, Pioneer Consulting 14