ICT Policies for the Caribbean: Taking Stock and Setting Priorities

Dr. Heather E. HudsonProfessor, ICT Management and Policy

Graduate School of Business

University of San Francisco

Why are ICTs Important?

Development and ICTs:The Information Connection

Benefits of ICTs • Efficiency:

Saving time and money• Mobile phones!

• Online support: logistics, ordering, tracking, etc.

• Effectiveness: Improving quality of services:

• e.g. education and health care, customer support

• Equity: Urban and rural; rich and poor; minorities; disabled

• Reach: New markets, new audiences, new sources of supplies

Particular needs of isolated and island states

ICTs and Caribbean Economic Development

Economic Diversification:• Information services, call centres, back offices• More trained and skilled workers

Competiveness: • Tourism: logistics, reservations, marketing• Other existing economic activities

CSME: Caricom Single Market and Economy• 13 members, 6 million population• Free movement of capital, goods, services and people• Common trade and economic policies• Goal to strengthen competitiveness in the global economy

Mobile Subscribers and Growth

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Main Lines per 100 CAGR 2001-2006

Do Fixed Lines Matter?

Perhaps not so much, for basic voice

But fixed lines are still important:For access to InternetFor broadband services

Internet Subscribers per 100

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St. Kitts & Nevis

Antigua & Barbuda

Dominica

Bahamas

Puerto Rico

Guyana

Trinidad & Tobago

St. Vincent

Jamaica

Belize

Virgin Islands

Dominican Rep.

Suriname

Haiti

Cuba

Americas

World

OECD

Broadband subscribers per 100

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Aruba

Barbados

Antigua & Barbuda

St. Vincent

Dominica

Bahamas

Puerto Rico

Virgin Islands

Belize

Jamaica

Trinidad & Tobago

St. Kitts & Nevis

Dominican Rep.

Grenada

Suriname

Americas

World

OECD

Internet Access Price as Percentage of GNI per capita

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CSME

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Barbados

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Grenada

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Jamaica

St. Kitts and Nevis

St. Lucia

St. Vincent/Grenadines

Suriname

Trinidad & Tobago

South Korea

Hong Kong

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Canada

U.S.

UK

Singapore

International Internet Bandwidth

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Int'l Internet bandwidth per 100 inhab.

Antigua & Barbuda

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Dominica

Grenada

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Jamaica

St. Kitts & Nevis

St. Lucia

St. Vincent & Grenadines

Suriname

Trinidad & Tobago

S. Korea

Hong Kong

Taiwan

Canada

US

UK

Singapore

Cases: Why Broadband? Distance education

• Educational institutions are major users of Internet access in the Caribbean

UWI is one of the pre-eminent distance learning institutions in the world

Other educational institutions providing online courses and access to distant resources

Training: Using the Internet to share materials K-Net: serving 25 isolated indigenous settlements in northern Canada Posting training videos on YouTube

E-based Services• Small countries need educated workforce (see above) and cheap

and reliable communications including VOIP• e.g. Bhutan

Population about size of St. Lucia Landlocked and mountainous Call centre start-ups using VOIP

Cases: Subsidies for Schools can bring Broadband to Communities ...

Alaska: • More than 200 isolated villages• Highest per capita recipient of USF E-Rate funds• E-Rate provides discounts for Internet access to schools and

libraries• Alaskan operator has used schools as anchor tenant• WiFi coverage from schools now covers most villages• Price for village access no greater than urban access

Macedonia• Newly independent country in Adriatic• Had monopoly provider and low Internet access• Seed funding from USAID to provide Internet to schools

Project included policy: opening market to competition Competitive bids to provide service

• Resulted in Macedonia becoming first “wireless broadband country”

• Now more than 30% of population are subscribers

Getting to Broadband: Lessons from the Mobile Explosion

Competition is key• Lower prices• Innovative strategies: e.g. prepaid, commodity prices

Demand may be much greater than assumed• Farther down the economic pyramid

Old Distinctions no longer Relevant • Fixed vs. mobile:

Mobile phones as first and only phones • What is E-mail?

SMS (short message service): Poor person’s (everyone’s?) e-mail?

Mobile phone as platform for many services

• Convergence: Voice, data, video What is voice?

• Bits are bits

• VoIP Telephony What is video?

• Broadcast vs. IPTV

Getting to Broadband:Strategies for Policy and Regulators

Facilitate• Allow competition wherever feasible• Allow use of new technologies

E.g. WiFi, VOIP for cheap Internet access and telephony• Do not mandate unnecessary stumbling blocks

Reduce local barriers• e.g. permits for rights of way• Local fees and taxes, duties

Be Flexible• One size may not fit all• Waivers

Listen to the Users (or would-be users) Collaborate

• Other regulatory authorities

• Competition, trade, local governments

Strategies: Public/Private Partnerships

Infrastructure• E.g. government to use commercial (public) networks, not

build own networks Government as anchor tenant May drive demand for new services

Economic Development• Strategies to encourage investment in target regions

Incentives to operators Applications

• Target sectors such as education, health care, government services

• Build on demand from other services Audio/video downloads Social networking Games?

ASK YOUNG PEOPLE!

For more information:hudson@usfca.edu

www.usfca.edu/fac-staff/hudsonFrom Rural Village to Global Village