Caribbean Broadband Prices: Global Comparisons, Policy Implications & Affordability
Around the world, broadband prices are widely discussed and frequently debated. Policymakers often emphasize the importance of affordable access to increasingly high-quality broadband yet may not always fully account for the investment incentives required to deliver it.
Strand Consult’s report, “Caribbean Broadband Prices: Global Comparisons, Policy Implications & Affordability,” provides a comprehensive assessment of broadband pricing across 24 Caribbean countries, covering more than 275 mobile broadband plans. The report benchmarks pricing against United Nations affordability targets, other Small Island Developing States (SIDS), the United States, Puerto Rico, and selected Latin American markets.
Comparing prices across countries is highly complex. Differences in income levels, taxation, regulatory frameworks, and consumer usage patterns make direct comparisons challenging—and can lead to oversimplification.
This report adopts a robust methodology that accounts for local conditions and usage patterns, and normalizes pricing using Gross National Income (GNI). This provides a more meaningful basis for comparing end-user affordability across very different economies.
Caribbean broadband affordability in the region is strong by international standards. In nearly every Caribbean market with available data, 5 GB of mobile data costs less than 2% of monthly gross national income (GNI) per capita, thereby meeting the United Nations Broadband Commission’s affordability target.
The report also highlights structural asymmetries between local telecom operators and global digital platforms. Local operators are subject to taxation, regulatory fees, spectrum costs, and significant employment obligations.
By contrast, large global digital platforms do not bear equivalent infrastructure or regulatory obligations in these markets, while generating significant value extraction per user.
The report is designed to support evidence-based policymaking at a time when governments and regulators are seeking to accelerate digital transformation and build next-generation economies. Reliable, affordable connectivity is essential for competitiveness in sectors including education, healthcare, tourism, energy, manufacturing, and natural resource optimization.
The study provides:
- Detailed country-level analysis across 24 Caribbean nations
- International benchmarking against SIDS, the United States, Puerto Rico, and Latin America
- A review of historical pricing studies and methodological differences
- Policy recommendations aimed at advancing a Caribbean Gigabit Society
The 24 countries of the Caribbean represent a unique microcosm, and the data makes clear that the current business model is no longer sustainable. Balancing broadband affordability for users with the investment requirements needed to build next-generation networks cannot be achieved under the existing regulatory framework.
Solutions based solely on taxation or subsidies are unlikely to address the structural challenge. Instead, infrastructure policy should better reflect the network usage generated by the largest digital and hyperscale entities — similar to the way major technology companies in the United States have acknowledged their responsibility to help protect consumers from rising energy infrastructure costs.
