Suriname - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Executive summary

Suriname’s mobile market booms while broadband has a long way to go

Suriname is a small country with just over 500,000 inhabitants, the only Dutch-speaking nation in South America. It has closer affinities with the Caribbean than with its continental neighbours.

State-owned Telecommunicatiebedrijf Suriname (Telesur) has a monopoly over all fixed-line and broadband services in Suriname, but provides mobile services in a competitive market.

Suriname’s teledensity is slightly lower than average for Latin America and the Caribbean, a result that reflects the country’s relatively low GDP per capita and widespread poverty. The fixed-line infrastructure is reasonable in the more populated coastal region, but poor in the interior. Efforts have been made to connect inland communities with Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) or CDMA 450 fixed wireless systems.

Three players compete in Suriname’s mobile market: state-owned Telesur, trading as TeleG; privately-owned multinational Digicel, which operates throughout the Caribbean; and Uniqa, owned by Intelsur and United Telecommunications Services (UTS).

Mobile penetration in Suriname is remarkably high and continues to grow beyond the 100% milestone, with many subscribers having up to three lines with different operators.

Broadband is poorly developed in Suriname. Penetration lags far behind the rest of the region; prices are high and download speeds are slow. Telesur is the exclusive provider of broadband access, primarily through ADSL, though it also offers wireless broadband for business customers.

Market highlights:

• There have been plans to open Suriname’s telecom sector to competition, but only mobile liberalisation has been implemented.
• The Suriname-Guyana Submarine Cable System (SG-SCS), completed in mid-2010, has helped to increase bandwidth capacity in Suriname, but prices remain high and download speeds low, a situation that is unlikely to change until there is some competition in the broadband sector.
• After much disagreement, Telesur, Uniqa, and Digicel have all succeeded in establishing SMS interconnection.

Suriname – key telecom parameters – 2009 - 2010

(Source: BuddeComm)

This report provides an overview of trends and developments in Suriname’s telecommunications market. Subjects covered include:

• Key statistics;
• Market and industry overviews;
• Regulatory environment;
• Major players (fixed, mobile and broadband);
• Infrastructure developments;
• Mobile market;
• Broadband market.

Lucia Bibolini

February 2011

Table of Contents

• 1. Executive summary
• 2. Key statistics
• 3. Country overview
• 4. Telecommunications market
  • 4.1 Overview of Suriname’s telecom market
• 5. Regulatory environment
  • 5.1 Background
  • 5.2 Regulatory authority
    • 5.2.1 Telecommunication Authority of Suriname (TAS)
  • 5.3 Telecom sector liberalisation in Suriname
• 6. Fixed network operator in Suriname
  • 6.1 Telesur
• 7. Telecommunications infrastructure
  • 7.1 National telecom network
    • 7.1.1 Fixed-line statistics
  • 7.2 International infrastructure
    • 7.2.1 Submarine cable networks
    • 7.2.2 Satellite networks
  • 7.3 Infrastructure developments
    • 7.3.1 Wireless Local Loop (WLL)
    • 7.3.2 Next Generation Networks (NGNs)
• 8. Fixed broadband access market
  • 8.1 Overview
    • 8.1.1 Broadband statistics
• 9. Mobile communications
  • 9.1 Overview of Suriname’s mobile market
    • 9.1.1 Mobile statistics
  • 9.2 Mobile technologies
  • 9.3 Major mobile operators
    • 9.3.1 TeleG (Telesur)
    • 9.3.2 Digicel
    • 9.3.3 Uniqa
  • 9.4 Mobile satellite
• 10. Related reports

• Table 1 – Country statistics Suriname – 2011
• Table 2 – Telephone network statistics – 2011
• Table 3 – Internet user statistics – 2011
• Table 4 – Broadband statistics – 2011
• Table 5 – Mobile statistics – 2011
• Table 6 – National telecommunications authority
• Table 7 – Evolution of GDP in Suriname – 2000 - 2011
• Table 8 – Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 1997 - 2011
• Table 9 – Internet users and user penetration – 1997 - 2011
• Table 10 – Broadband subscribers and penetration rates – 2002 - 2011
• Table 11 – Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 1997 - 2011

• Chart 1 – Fixed and mobile subscribers in Suriname – 1998 - 2011

• Exhibit 1 – Map of Suriname
• Exhibit 2 – Telesur at a glance
• Exhibit 3 – Submarine cable network link to Suriname