CIRP's Líderes Project 2021

About

Investigating the Caribbean ICT Landscape, is 1 of 16 Internet Governance research projects selected by the Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) for their Líderes 2.0 Programme 2021.

Centered on the theme Digital Inclusion, this study seeks to contribute to the planning and provisioning of adequate and accessible, telecommunications and internet infrastructure, and services in the Caribbean. Its focus is on determining the minimum information stakeholders deem necessary to accurately assess the availability, accessibility, usage, and quality of ICT in the region, particularly in underserved communities, with the intent of revealing data gaps and inconsistencies.

For demonstrative purposes, this pilot study considers three (3) sample countries: Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago, though it anticipates extensibility to all CARICOM countries following project execution. The stakeholder scope for data gathering purposes comprised policymakers and regulators in the telecommunications sector.

Disclaimer: the views and opinions expressed in this project are those of the authors or interviewees and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of LACNIC

Approach

To identify the data needs for evidenced-based policymaking and regulations this project was divided in two streams, data collection and data processing and analysis.

Data Collection

The data collection stream involved both primary and secondary data sourcing methods.

Secondary Methods - desk research was utilized to gather publicly available baseline ICT data and statistics for the 3 countries under study (Guyana, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago) and information on suitable data formats and presentation. All data was gathered from reputable sources such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the World Bank and the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI). A general range of 10 years (2011 – 2021) was used as a limiting factor for data collection.

Primary methods - interviews and surveys were utilized to gather information on the ICT data needs of stakeholders, policymakers and regulators, in each of the 3 countries under study. Guided by the results from desk research, targeted questions were crafted to ascertain the current state of the digital divides as they are perceived in these countries, and the data needs of the different stakeholders to make evidence-based decisions to address these gaps.

Data Processing & Analysis

The data processing and analysis stream involved collating the gathered data into categories to create ICT profiles using various data visualizations. These categories are Country Overview; Enabling Environment; ICT Infrastructure and Service Availability; and ICT Adoption and Usage. Following accumulation of data for these 4 categories, interactive dashboards were created for each category using Microsoft Excel. Since all data were not conducive to being represented in a dashboard, additional sections were included to get a more comprehensive view of each country’s ICT landscape.

Data Needs

To understand the gaps in service to the underserved and plan and deploy emergency and regular internet service to underserved communities, desk research was first conducted to obtain publicly available baseline data related to the state of ICT in the 3 countries under study. Based on these initial results, a qualitative and quantitative survey in the form of an interview and a questionnaire respectively, were administered to 6 stakeholders (1 regulator and policymaker from each country under study).

The outcome of these stakeholder engagements was a list of the minimum set of data deemed necessary for effective and efficient policy and planning. This list of data can be grouped into 5 main categories:

ICT Infrastructure
Service Availability
ICT Affordability
ICT Use
ICT Usage

ICT Infrastructure

Top categories

Mobile network coverage
Backup power provisions
Network redundancy
Submarine cable routes
Terrestrial network node locations & routes
Submarine cable landing point locations

Data stakeholders need to assess the adequacy of ICT infrastructure

Service Availability

Top categories

Geo-referenced service penetration
Customer satisfaction data
Market survey data
Traffic Measurements
Quality of service measurements
Customer complaints data

Data stakeholders need to assess ICT service availability

ICT Affordability

Top categories

Poverty statistics
Community-level socioeconomic data
National income distribution
Unemployment statistics

Data stakeholders need to assess ICT affordability

ICT Use

Top categories

Mobile telephone subscribers
Individuals who own a device
Internet subscribers (mobile and fixed)
Fixed telephone subscribers
Individuals who use the internet

Data stakeholders need to assess ICT use

ICT Usage

Top categories

Network traffic, hourly and daily
Market share
Service demand
Most popular internet activities
Frequency of internet use

Data stakeholders need to assess ICT usage

ICT Profiles

All relevant data gathered through primary and secondary research were aggregated and transformed to perform example analyses and draw sample findings. To facilitate these analyses country profiles outlining ICT infrastructure and service availability as well as other characteristics, where available, such as various aspects of accessibility, affordability, quality, and use were developed.

Country Overview

In this section geographic, demographic, and socio-economic data are used. This data, primarily sourced from the World Bank's World Development Indicators Database, was collected to provide context for the ICT indicators and statistics to be presented in the other dashboards. An additional statistic, the ICT development Index (IDI) from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) was also included in this category as an encompassing ICT indicator for all the succeeding indicators to be used in the profiles.

View Dashboard

Enabling Environment

This section includes data on the regulatory environment of the 3 countries through the ITU’s Global ICT Regulatory Tracker. Additionally, ICT Price Baskets and Smartphone affordability data from the ITU and the Alliance for Affordable Internet (A4AI) is provided.

To provide context for these statistics data, information on the legal and institutional frameworks of each country’s ICT sector is provided in the table below.

View Dashboard

ICT Sector - Legal and Institutional Frameworks
Category	GUY	TTO	VCT
Legal Framework	Telecommunications Act (2016)	Telecommunications Act (2001, ammended in 2004)	Telecomunications Act (2001)
Public Policy Authority	Ministry of Public Telecommunications	Ministry of Digital Transformation (est. 2021) previously Ministry of Public Adminsitration and Communications (MPUC)	Department of Telecommunications Science and Technology in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Information Technology
Regulating Authority	Public Utilities Commision (PUC)	Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT)	National Telecomunications Regulatory Commision (NTRC),Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL)
Competition Authority	Competition and Consumer Affairs Commission of Guyana (CCAC)	Fair Trading Commission (FTC)	National Competition Agency, Organisations of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS), competition bill is currently being reviewed
National Digital/ICT/Telecommunications Strategy	Guyana's Low Carbon Development Strategy 2030 (draft for consultation), previously National Development Strategy	National ICT Plan 2018 - 2022	National Broadband Plan 2015 - 2020
Market Access	Fully liberalised since October 2021	Fully liberalised since June 2004	Fully liberalised since March 2003

Infrastructure and Service Availability

This section presents ICT infrastructure and service statistics These statistics include number of submarine landing points and Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) from TeleGeography and Packet Clearing House (PCH) respectively. Mobile connectivity data was sourced from Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) and broadband download rates were included from Cable.co.uk.

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ICT Availability vs Population Density Maps

In this sub-section geo-referenced data is presented on country maps. Population density from WorldPop.org and broadband infrastructure locations, referenced above, for all 3 countries are displayed as layers using Excel's 3D maps. In the case of Trinidad and Tobago there are additional data layers - cell tower locations and Regional ICT indicators from the Telecommunication Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT)’s Digital Divide Survey from 2013.

Guyana

ICT infrastructure overlayered on Population Density

Trinidad and Tobago

ICT infrastructure & Regional Digital Availability Index, 2013 overlayered on Population Density

ICT infrastructure & Regional ICT Development Index, 2013 overlayered on Population Density

ICT infrastructure & Regional Digital Opportunity Index, 2013 overlayered on Population Density

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

ICT Adoption and Usage

This final section presents telephony and broadband penetration rates, both fixed line and mobile, from the ITU. Additionally international bandwidth rates from the ITU are included.

View Dashboard

Data Gaps

In addition to identifying the minimum needs of stakeholders, this project also sets out to identify data gaps. Based on the data presented in the ICT profiles, this section classifies the data listed in data needs according to its availability, and level of disaggregation.

The table below, summarises these data gaps for each country under study.

Legend

Public Availability

🟢 - Publicly available and up-to-date
🟡 - Publicly available but out-dated
🔴 - Unavilable or not measured
⬤ - Available under license only

Disaggregation

- Geography
- Demography
- Socio-economics

Availability of data needed for ICT policy and regulation
Category	Data	Availability
Category	Data	GUY	TTO	VCT
Infrastructure Availability	Terrestrial network node locations & routes	⬤	⬤	⬤
	Submarine cable routes	🟢	🟢	🟢
	Network redundancy	🔴	🔴	🔴
	Backup power provisions	🔴	🔴	🔴
	Mobile network coverage	⬤	⬤	⬤
	Submarine cable landing point locations	🟢	🟢	🟢
Service Availability	Market survey data	🔴	🟢	⬤
	Customer satisfaction data	🔴	🟢	🟡
	Geo-referenced service penetration	🔴	🟡	🔴
	Customer complaints	🔴	🟢	🔴
	Quality of service measurements	🔴	🔴	🔴
	Traffic measurements	🔴	🔴	🔴
Service Affordability	Poverty statistics	🟡	🟡	🟡
	Community-level socioeconomic data	🔴	🔴	🔴
	National income distribution	🔴	🟡	🔴
	Unemployment statistics	🟢	🟡	🟡
ICT Use	Internet subscribers (mobile and fixed)	🟡	🟡	🟡
	Individuals who own a device	🔴	🔴	⬤
	Mobile telephone subscribers	🟡	🟡	🟡
	Individuals who use the internet	🟡	🟡	🟡
	Fixed telephone subscribers	🟡	🟡	🟡
ICT Usage	Frequency of internet use	🔴	🔴	⬤
	Most popular internet activities	🔴	🔴	⬤
	Service demand	🔴	🟢	🔴
	Market share	🔴	🟢	🔴
	Network traffic by time of day and day of week	⬤	⬤	⬤

Report

The findings of this investigation indicate that there is a need for publicly available data necessary to assess meaningful connectivity and other key access metrics to inform evidence-driven policymaking and regulation. Additionally, greater data disaggregation by geography, demography, socioeconomic status, and other key factors is required. These findings as well as other aspects of the project can be viewed in further detail in the report.

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