Telecommunications providers earned EC$166 million

THE seven telecommu-nications providers in Grenada generated revenue of EC$166 million between the period March 2011 to March 2012, according to the latest report of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC).

The 2012 annual report of NTRC says that the revenue earned indicates a 7 per cent increase compared to 2011 and was driven by increase revenue from fixed services, which grew by 26 per cent. The report, which was tabled in the House of Representatives on November 15, said that mobile services generated 44 per cent of the telecommunications sector revenue, which was actually a decrease from the previous year when the mobile sector represented 56 per cent of the revenue to the sector.

“LIME commanded the majority share of the market, recording a total of 58 per cent; with Digicel recording 31 per cent; while FLOW recorded 10 per cent market share,” said the report, which pointed out that telecoms providers invested roughly EC$18 million in the sector during the period under review.

Mobile subscribers top the list of service subscribers with prepaid amounting to 119 211 and post-paid 10 703, and represents 67 per cent of all telecommunications service subscribers at the end of March 2012.

Fixed Internet continues to show dominance on the residential side, amounting to 8.35 per cent of the total market, while subscriber television rose to 9.6 per cent with an increase in residential subscriptions, amounting to 17 316 total subscriptions for the period covered in the report.

Despite earning reduced revenue, the mobile service penetration moved up 9 percentage points and was recorded at 118 per cent, while fixed line penetration remained flat at 25 per cent for a second year.

“Fixed Internet Service penetration, which has increased steadily, albeit at a slow pace, moved up from 13.3 per cent to 14.5 per cent,” said the report, which pointed out that LIME controls 97 per cent of the fixed line market. As of March 2012, there were an estimated 27 727 total fixed line subscriptions.

Ten million international call minutes originated from fixed networks and with regards to international incoming traffic, the report said that there was a decline moving from 16 per cent to 12 per cent for the period under review, while international outgoing traffic saw a slight increase from 5 to 6 per cent.

According to the report, in the past three years, local mobile call minutes grew at a compound annual growth rate of 16 per cent.

“A majority, nearly 90 per cent, of local mobile traffic was on net with Digicel commanding the majority,” said the report, which also explained that within a period of four years, Digicel has shown steady increases in net traffic, while LIME, though consistent for the past three years, showed a significant drop in 2012.

Besides LIME and Digicel, the other telecommunications providers in Grenada, according to the NTRC, are: FLOW, which offers fixed line, Internet and subscriber TV; AIsleCom, which offers only a mobile service; Southern Caribbean Fiber, which offers submarine cable; Grencomm, which offers VOIP; and Green Dot, which offers subscriber TV. (LS)