Assessment of the Telecommunication Services Sector in CARICOM: Convergence Issues at the Regional and International Level

The report reviews the current state of the telecommunications and ICT sectors including the level of competitiveness in the sector in CARICOM and examines the role of the telecommunications and ICT sector within the CARICOM/CSME integration process and in international trade negotiations. The report presents the approaches governments have taken, both individually and collectively, to create enabling environments for ICT and ICT-related services to flourish and contribute to the regional integration process. It concludes that ICTs and their related services and sectors cannot be successfully deployed nor deployed in national and regional environments where telecommunications has not yet been liberalized and introduced to the competitive pressures of the marketplace. The positive impacts of regional cooperation organizations, such as the Caribbean Telecommunications Union (CTU), in advancing the telecommunications liberalization process are also presented.