Jamaica Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Date: December 2023

Report Pages: 102

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Jamaica licenses its third mobile telecom provider

Jamaica’s telecom sector has for many years been propped up by the mobile sector, which accounts for the vast majority of internet connections and voice lines. It also accounts for just over half of telecom sector revenue. The merger between Digicel and Claro’s Jamaican business in 2012 strengthened Digicel’s position in the market, but in recent quarters Digicel Group’s financial difficulties have caused it considerable problems. The Group has considered selling off its units in the Pacific region, while it has renegotiated a number of bonds to reduce its debt to about $5.8 billion. Assets have been placed under the management of a newly created holding company.

Both Digicel and its only rival, Flow (supported by its new owner Liberty Global), have extended their LTE networks across the island, particularly during the pandemic in response to a sharp increase in data traffic.

The regulator has endeavoured to develop the MVNO sector in a bid to improve competition, though with little success. The 700MHz licensee Symbiote Investments, trading as Caricel Jamaica, had its license revoked at the end of 2018 due to breaches of the terms of the Telecommunications Act. The UK-based Privy Council in August 2020 refused Caricel’s application for permission to appeal the revocation of its telecom licences. To fill the gap in the market, a new operator, Rock Mobile, was licensed in May 2021, with obligations to provide 95% population coverage within two years.

In December 2020, the government announced the rollout of a national broadband network costing up to $237 million. The funding will be spent on improving connectivity in underserved areas, improving access to education, and deploying networks to public locations such as hospitals, municipal institutions, and police stations.

To aid in this national broadband effort, the government received a donation of 650km of fibre cabling from local cable TV providers and the two main toll road operators.

To encourage the use of digital channels as the country deals with the Covid-19 pandemic, companies such as Scotiabank have given their customers zero-rated data access to mobile banking applications, while Digicel Jamaica has subsidised data plans and zero-rated data access to some educational platforms and websites.

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 developments

Rock Mobile secures 700MHz licence, becoming Jamaica’s third mobile provider;
Digicel transfers assets into a new holding company as its struggles with debt;
Digicel Foundation donates $1 million to the National Health Fund for the purchase of Covid-19 vaccines;
Government announces rollout of national broadband network, receives donation of 650km of fibre cabling from cable TV and toll road operators;
Flow embarks on $150 million investment program, secures spectrum in the AWS band between 1710MHz and 2200MHz;
Jamaica Public Service awarded funding by the US Trade and Development Agency to advance the Smart City New Kingston program;
Report update includes the regulator’s market updates to Q4 2021, operator data to Q1 2022, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report

Columbus Communications, Liberty Global, China Mobile, Digicel Group, Cable & Wireless, Ericsson, Flow, Huawei, LIME, Rivada Networks, Rock Mobile, Symbiote Investments (Caricel), ZTE

Key statistics
Country overview
Telecommunications market

Market analysis

Regulatory environment

Regulatory authorities
Fixed-line developments

Number Portability (NP)
Quality of Service (QoS)
Infrastructure sharing
Termination rates

Mobile network developments

Licences
700MHz auction
1710MHz and 2200MHz
Mobile Termination rate (MTR)

Mobile market

Mobile statistics
Mobile broadband
Mobile infrastructure

5G
4G (LTE)

Major mobile operators

Digicel
Flow Jamaica
MVNOs

Mobile content and applications

M-banking

Fixed-line broadband market

Market analysis
Market analysis
Broadband statistics
Fixed-line broadband technologies

Hybrid Fibre Coax (HFC) networks
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
Other fixed broadband services

Fixed network operators
Digital economy

Regional Initiative
E-commerce
e-learning

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
International infrastructure

Submarine cable networks

Smart infrastructure
Smart Cities

Appendix – Historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Jamaica – 2022 (e)
Table 2 – GDP developments – 2010 – 2021
Table 3 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 4 – Change in the number of mobile prepaid and contract subscribers (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 5 – Decline in SMS traffic – 2013 – 2021
Table 6 – Development of mobile market revenue – 2013 – 2021
Table 7 – Development of mobile ARPU (J$) by service – 2013 – 2021
Table 8 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2027
Table 9 – Growth in the number of Flow Jamaica’s mobile subscribers – 2016 – 2022
Table 10 – Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 11 – Total internet subscribers (fixed and mobile) and penetration – 2012 – 2021
Table 12 – Development of internet market revenue – 2013 – 2021
Table 13 – Cable broadband subscribers – 2013 – 2017
Table 14 – DSL subscribers – 2013 – 2017
Table 15 – Growth in the number of Flow Jamaica’s fixed-line and broadband subscribers – 2016 – 2022
Table 16 – Growth in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2012 – 2027
Table 17 – Development of fixed-line voice revenue (J$ million) by service – 2013 – 2020
Table 18 – Fixed-line market revenue – 2013 – 2021
Table 19 – Development of fixed-line voice ARPU by service (J$) – 2013 – 2021
Table 20 – Increase in international internet bandwidth – 2012 – 2020
Table 21 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2000 – 2011
Table 22 – Historic - Mobile prepaid and contract subscribers – 2007 – 2011
Table 23 – Historic - Mobile market share by operator – 2003 – 2015
Table 24 – Historic - Digicel Jamaica financial results ($ million) – 2013 – 2015
Table 25 – Historic - Flow Jamaica revenue (old style) – 2015 – 2017
Table 26 – Historic - Internet users, penetration – 2000 – 2015
Table 27 – Historic - Dial-up internet subscribers – 2006 – 2016
Table 28 – Historic - Fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2006 – 2011
Table 29 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2000 – 2011
Table 30 – Historic - International internet bandwidth – 2001 – 2011
Table 31 – Historic - Flow Jamaica revenue (new style) – 2016 – 2017

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 2 – Change in the number of mobile prepaid and contract subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Chart 3 – Decline in SMS traffic – 2013 – 2021
Chart 4 – Development of mobile ARPU by service – 2013 – 2021
Chart 5 – Growth in the number of mobile broadband subscribers – 2012 – 2027
Chart 6 – Growth in the number of Flow Jamaica’s mobile subscribers – 2016 – 2022
Chart 7 – Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 8 – Total internet subscribers (fixed and mobile) and penetration – 2012 – 2021
Chart 9 – Development of internet market revenue – 2013 – 2021
Chart 10 – Growth in the number of Flow Jamaica’s fixed-line and broadband subscribers – 2016 – 2022
Chart 11 – Growth in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2012 – 2027
Chart 12 – Development of fixed-line voice revenue by service – 2013 – 2021
Chart 13 – Development of fixed-line voice ARPU by service – 2013 – 2021

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Jamaica’s e-Learning program
Exhibit 2 – Submarine cable network links to Jamaica – 2021

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Jamaica Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

Jamaica licenses its third mobile telecom provider

Key developments

Companies mentioned in this report

Key statistics

Country overview

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-line broadband market

Fixed network operators

Digital economy

Telecommunications infrastructure

Appendix – Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views