Adoption of wireless broadband technology poses several challenges for the Caribbean, despite being an obvious option due to the very low level of DSL adoption in the region, according to Canadian network equipment supplier Nortel Networks. The primary concern is the cost of handsets, which can amount to 70% of an operator's costs when launching a new service. That cost can easily translate into a prohibitively high cost of the service for the end consumer. Regulators and operators should look at ways of achieving economies of scale to try and bring handset prices down.
In South and Central America, the two main mobile telecoms giants America Movil and Telefonica have a lot of buying power, which brings down the cost of handsets. The Caribbean on the other hand is dominated by two much smaller companies Cable & Wireless and Digicel.
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