Summary

Suriname-Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband

Suriname is a small country with only 507,000 inhabitants, the only Dutch-speaking nation in South America, with close affinities to the Caribbean region. It is one of Latin America's poorer nations, with roughly two thirds of the population living below the poverty line.

Suriname's telecom infrastructure is reasonable compared with the rest of Latin America. Teledensity is slightly lower than average for the region, while mobile penetration is slightly higher. Internet and broadband uptake, however, lag far behind.

The state-owned incumbent Telesur has a monopoly over the fixed-line sector and is the only provider of broadband, which is exorbitantly expensive, particularly in view of the country's low GDP per capita.

Three companies provide GSM mobile services: Telesur, Digicel and Uniqa. Competition in the mobile market, however, only began in 2008. Previously, Telesur was the only mobile operator in the country.

Key Highlights
The telecom market has been partly liberalised following the ratification of the New Telecommunication Act. For more information, see Suriname-Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband, chapter 5.
The number of Internet dial-up customers is decreasing while there is a growing demand for ADSL access despite the high prices. For more information, see Suriname-Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband, chapter 8.
Competition in the mobile sector is intensifying, but mobile operators have yet to agree on SMS interconnection, to the detriment of consumers who are unable to share text messages across networks. For more information, see Suriname-Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband, chapter 9.