Commonwealth Caribbean
Technology enablers
1. Availability of network coverage and internet access
The proportion of people using the internet in the Caribbean SIDS varies from as low as 21 per cent in St Vincent and The Grenadines to as high as 85 per cent in The Bahamas, 82 per cent in Barbados and 81 per cent in St Kitts and Nevis.
2.International connectivity
Satellite connections have historically been the only way for island nations in the Caribbean SIDS to gain access to international connectivity.
However, the high costs of satellite internet connections and higher bandwidth requirements are prompting a shift from satellite connections to submarine cabling. In fact, submarine cabling is now the most widely deployed technology in the Caribbean SIDS for international connectivity. All the Commonwealth countries in the region have at least two submarine connection cables. This is good because it provides backup options if one of the cables becomes inactive. Additionally, since the cables are typically run by competing entities, competition has the potential to drive down pricing.1
3. Inter-regional connectivity
Microwave connections, though to a less degree, are used to supplement the satellite and sub-marine cable primarily as backup links, particularly between islands within proximity.
In multi-island countries like Trinidad and Tobago, microwave networks are the medium of choice to link islands, where submarine fibre has not yet been deployed.
4. Wireless broadband penetration
In the Caribbean, internet services are delivered in-country via a combination of fibre-optic, coaxial and copper cables, and mobile wireless networks.
As of 2017, 2G mobile/cellular networks were the main form of wireless broadband coverage covering most of the population. There was also increasing penetration of newer third-generation (3G), 4G and long-term evolution mobile technologies that support mobile broadband internet being deployed. The density of fixed broadband subscribers is generally low – from less than four subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in the Bahamas to 27 subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in Barbados in 2014. As of 2016, the coverage gap in the Caribbean SIDS was relatively small, with only about 10 per cent of the population living outside the footprint of 3G or 4G networks. Such high levels of mobile broadband coverage create a vast opportunity for the distribution of developed mobile solutions using the internet to a wider audience.2
5. Mobile penetration
Mobile penetration in the Caribbean SIDS is high.
Over the past decade, smartphones in the region have become increasingly available at a broad range of price points and have become the most common means by which the population accesses the internet. As a result, carriers appear to be aggressively promoting their mobile data services by offering a wide variety of plans, particularly to prepaid consumers.
Individuals using the the internet (% of population)
Bahamas, The
Barbados
St Kitts and Nevis
Trinidad and Tobago
Antigua and Barbuda
GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index
To better understand the enabling environment for digitalisation in the Caribbean Island states, the GSMA mobile connectivity index is used.8
This quantitative measure reveals that most of the countries in the region have GSMA connectivity indices higher than 60, unlike their counterparts in Africa and Asia, which is generally representative of a more enabling environment for digitalisation. As shown by the figure on the right. It should also be noted that the island countries of Antigua and Barbuda, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis in the region had no GSMA index data.
GSMA mobile connectivity indices for Commonwealth Caribbean (2019)
Canada
Technology enablers
1.Connectivity
The majority of Canadians (84.1 per cent) have internet access with download speeds of up to 50 megabits per second, and 10 megabits per second upload speeds.
Canada has significantly lower access and coverage gaps than other countries in the Commonwealth. The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC1) also estimates that 94 per cent of the Canadian households now have access to wired broadband connections, with 69 per cent of the households subscribing to high-speed service. Canadian wireless broadband connections are currently dominated by 4G connections, and the country is making advancements in its transition towards 5G2. Almost half of all mobile connections in North America are forecast to be running on 5G networks by 2025. This suggests that the region will migrate to 5G at a much faster rate than comparable markets in Europe and Asia.
2.Mobile penetration
Canada has one of the highest mobile device penetration rates in the world, with an estimated 92 mobile subscriptions per 100 inhabitants.3
Canada also has one of the highest smartphone penetration rates, with an estimated 81 per cent smartphone penetration rate by 2019. This smartphone penetration rate was further predicted to rise to an estimated 90 per cent by 2025.4
Non-technology enablers
1.The profitability objective
Agricultural technologies can be viewed as means through which farmers seek to achieve their production objectives.
Farmers have many objectives, including risk management, quality of life and environmental stewardship. Most Canadian farmers have profitability as the primary objective for their agriculture. As such, the cost reduction potential for digital agricultural solutions, especially those in the smart farming domain, are very attractive1. Unlike domains with large numbers of smallholder farmers, the farmers in this region mainly use digital farming solutions for the main objective of dealing with business management and governance challenges/requirements.
2.High digital literacy
Two-nine per cent of the Canadian farmers have a secondary school diploma or equivalent, 21 per cent a college or CEGEP diploma (the British equivalent of a community college diploma) and 15 per cent a university degree or diploma at the bachelor’s level or above.
Additionally, farmers with an apprenticeship or trades certificate or diploma make up about 14 per cent of the Canadian farmers.5 A 2013 Statistics Canada study on the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) measured the literacy, numeracy and problem-solving in technology-rich environments (PS-TRE) skills of Canadians. They found that Canadian adults on average had better problem-solving skills. When more farmers are digitally literate, they are more likely to consume digital agriculture solutions effectively as they can easily operate mobile phones, field sensors and computers.
Commonwealth Caribbean
Non-technology barriers
1. Relatively small island populations
The Caribbean region is characterised by a small market, which limits a potential start-up’s revenues and therefore its sustainability.
Despite this, local markets have the potential to be a testing ground for developments, if Government support is provided.
2. Inadequate level of innovation financing
There is an inadequate level of seed financing in the region.
Except for the Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the Caribbean (EPIC), there has been no notable financing for digital agriculture innovation in the region. This significantly slows down the rate of innovation in the digital agricultural space.
3. Topographical constraints
The remoteness of many of the Caribbean SIDS makes the cost of internet cable connections between islands countries very high.
It also increases the capital expenditure of the mobile network operators and consequently causes the cost of mobile broadband connections to become prohibitively high.
4. Limited collaboration among innovation communities
There is limited collaboration between mobile innovation communities from different islands in the Caribbean.6
This is a barrier because collaboration is necessary for start-up ecosystems to thrive. This slows down the development of relevant and affordable digital agricultural solutions. There is also a lack of mentors and role models who can pass their industry knowledge onto aspiring solution developers and that slows down digital agricultural innovations in the region.
5. Lack of basic digital literacy in the Caribbean
Although basic literacy rates in the Caribbean are higher than the global average, there remains a gap in digital literacy and skills.7
Insufficient infrastructure and teaching support for digital education prevents many mobile users from exploring the benefits of the internet. Having low levels of digital literacy effectively lowers the ability of the literate population to use digital solutions in the most effective way. This is because users with low levels of digital literacy may not be able to effectively deal with the primary access mediums for the consumption of digital solutions like smartphones and computers.
Footnotes
1 Fonseca-Hoeve, I. et al. (2017). Unleashing the Internet in the Caribbean Removing Barriers to Connectivity and Stimulating Better Access in the Region. https://unctad.org/system/files/non-official-document/dtl_eWeek2017c06-…
2 Addison, C., K. Lohento, D. Okello and G. Rambaldi (2013). The ICT update, small islands and e-resilience. https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/75312
3 Phillips, P. W.B. (2019). Configuring the new digital landscape in western Canadian agriculture. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1573521418302264
4 Global System for Mobile Communications (2020). The Mobile Economy North America. https://data.gsmaintelligence.com/research/research/research-2020/the-m… 2020#:~:text=In%202019%2C%20mobile%20technologies%20and,almost%20%24100%20billion%20through%20taxation
5 Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (2019). Communications Monitoring Report 2019. https://crtc.gc.ca/pubs/cmr2019-en.pdf
6 Addison, C., K. Lohento, D. Okello and G. Rambaldi (2013) The ICT update, small islands and e-resilience. http://ict4ag.cta.int/2017/06/06/72-ict-update-71-english-small-islands…
7 Global System for Mobile Communications (2016) Digital inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. https://www.gsma.com/mobilefordevelopment/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Co…
8 The GSMA Mobile Connectivity Index measures the enablers of mobile internet connectivity. This index provides an aggregated quantifiable measure for selected indicators enablers of mobile connectivity. These indicators are Infrastructure – the availability of high-performance mobile internet network coverage; Affordability – the availability of mobile services and devices at price points that reflect the level of income across a national population; Consumer readiness – citizens with the awareness and skills needed to value and use the internet, and a cultural environment that promotes gender equality; Content – the availability of online content and services accessible and relevant to the local population.