Executive summary
Liberty Global expands in Jamaica with acquisition of Cable & WirelessThe relative size and rapid expansion of the Jamaican mobile sector continues to underpin growth in the telecommunications industry. The merger between Digicel and Claro’s Jamaican business in 2012 strengthened Digicel’s dominance of the sector, and the company has since extended its 3G network across the island and is looking to add LTE services in late 2016. This will considerably improve access to broadband services, and raise the relatively low penetration rate.
In early 2015 Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC) acquired Columbus Communications, so consolidating its leading market position in the region. The existing Flow brand for pay-TV services in Jamaica was extended to all of Cable & Wireless’s Caribbean footprint by May 2016. This also affected CWC’s LIME brand, which has come under the Flow moniker.
The acquisition of CWC by Liberty Global, agreed in November 2015 and which received approval by Liberty Global’s shareholders in April 2016, has placed additional pressure on Digicel, given that both operators are pursuing a converged services strategy for their businesses in the region.
A number of regulatory measures have been in train, including the introduction of number portability and a system to monitor quality of service parameters for fixed and mobile telephony as well as internet services.
This report contains overviews, analyses and statistics of the Jamaican fixed-line, mobile and broadband markets together with information on convergence issues and on the country’s fixed line incumbent and major mobile operators.
Key telecom penetration by service – 2015 (e)
Subscriber penetration rate by service:Penetration
Fixed-broadband5.7%
Fixed-line telephony9.5%
Mobile SIM109%
(Source: BuddeComm)
Key developments:
Government approves the award of a new mobile licence;
Flow Jamaica launches LTE services;
Digicel expands FttP network;
Columbus Communications acquired by Cable & Wireless;
Digicel completes nationwide WiMAX network using 2.5GHz spectrum assets;
Flow embarks on $150 million investment program in Jamaica;
Flow secures spectrum in the AWS band between 1710MHz and 2200MHz;
Cable & Wireless Communications’ East-West cable between Jamaica, the British Virgin Islands and the Dominican Republic augments capacity for data and telephony services.
Government sets up Quality of Service platform to incorporate fixed, mobile and internet services;
New IXP opened to improve domestic internet traffic flow and reduce costs;
Digicel completes acquisition of Telstar’s broadband and cable TV operations;
Updated report includes the regulator’s market data into 2015, recent market developments.Companies mentioned in this report:Columbus Communications, Digicel, Cable & Wireless, Flow, LIME, Liberty Global
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1. Executive summary
2. Key Statistics
3. Country overview
4. Telecommunications market
5. Regulatory Environment
5.1 Background
5.2 Regulatory authorities
5.3 Regulatory developments
5.3.1 Number Portability (NP)
5.3.2 Quality of Service (QoS)
6. Fixed network operators
7. Telecommunications Infrastructure
7.1 Overview of the national telecom network
7.2 International infrastructure
7.2.1 Submarine cable networks
8. Fixed-line broadband market
8.1 Introduction and statistical overview
8.2 Market analysis
8.3 Broadband statistics
8.4 Forecasts – broadband subscribers – 2016; 2018; 2021
8.5 Fixed-line broadband technologies
8.5.1 Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
8.5.2 Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
8.5.3 Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
8.5.4 Other fixed broadband services
9. Digital media
9.1 Cable TV (CATV)
9.1.1 Digicel
9.1.2 Flow
9.2 Digital Terrestrial TV (DTTV)
9.3 Communications: Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
10. Mobile market
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Mobile statistics
10.3 Mobile broadband
10.4 Forecasts – mobile subscribers 2016; 2018, 2021
10.5 Regulatory issues
10.5.1 Licences
10.5.2 700MHz auction
10.5.3 1710MHz and 2200MHz
10.5.4 MTRs
10.6 Mobile infrastructure
10.6.1 Long-term-Evolution (LTE)
10.7 Major mobile operators
10.7.1 Digicel
10.7.2 Claro
10.7.3 Flow
10.7.4 MVNOs
10.8 Mobile content and applications
10.8.1 M-banking
11. Related reports
Table 1 – Country statistics Jamaica – 2015 (e)
Table 2 – Telephone network statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 3 – Internet statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 4 – Mobile statistics – 2015 (e)
Table 5 – National telecommunications authorities
Table 6 – GDP developments - 2010 - 2015
Table 7 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity - 2000 - 2016
Table 8 – International bandwidth - 2000 - 2014
Table 9 – Internet users, penetration - 2000 - 2015
Table 10 – Fixed-line broadband and dial-up subscribers – 2006 - 2016
Table 11 – Forecast broadband subscribers and penetration – 2015; 2017; 2020
Table 12 – Cable broadband subscribers - 2013 - 2016
Table 13 – DSL subscribers - 2013 - 2016
Table 14 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate - 2000 - 2016
Table 15 – Mobile market share by operator - 2003 - 2015
Table 16 – Mobile internet subscribers - 2010 - 2016
Table 17 – Forecast mobile subscribers and penetration – 2015; 2017; 2020
Table 18 – Digicel Jamaica financial results – 2013 - 2015
Chart 1 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2000 - 2016
Chart 2 – Internet users, penetration – 2003 - 2016
Chart 3 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2000 - 2016
Exhibit 1 – Major submarine cable networks serving Jamaica
Exhibit 2 – Jamaica’s e-Learning program
