Today, telecommunications services occupy an important place in the global economy. For some, they are in second place, right after oil (Domond, 2017). In Haiti, as we can see in figure number 1 below, since the middle of the decade 2000-2010, an increase in telecommunications activities has been observed. Currently, despite the slowdown in the growth rate of the said branch, the situation is not so different. With reference to the National Accounts for the 2019-2020 fiscal year, a relatively small increase of 0.4% in the activities of the Information and Communication branch, with production increasing from 12.5 to 12.6 billion constant gourdes, has observed between 2019 and 2020 respectively (IHSI, 2020).

In fact, the impact of the development of such a branch on the health of an economy is not negligible (Louis, 2018). Direct and indirect jobs have been created, allowing some households not only to stay connected with the rest of the world, but also to meet certain basic needs. Yet, alongside this performance, we have seen an exorbitant rise in some prices. This situation, in our opinion, penalizes consumers since almost all Haitian households find themselves, as the numerous reports written on this subject point out, in very difficult economic and financial situations. Thus, it becomes legitimate to question the structure of the telecommunications market as well as the quality of these services since the criticisms expressed by certain users against suppliers are numerous.

Haiti, a highly concentrated telecommunications market

As is the case for other sectors of the economic life of the Republic of Haiti, the telecommunications infrastructure is poorly developed. Indeed, data from the National Telecommunications Council (CONATEL) reports that less than 10 out of 100 households, or a percentage of 9.4%, only 4.4% have access to a laptop. Among these 9.4%, only 4.4% have access to the internet, which is above all catastrophic... Combining all possible means, a small portion of 12.3% of Haitian households use the internet.

However, despite the fact that the situation is not very critical concerning the mobile connection, since approximately 68.8% of Haitians have a mobile phone in 2016 (Domond & Koutroumpis, 2017). It should be noted that the penetration of telecommunications in Haiti remains one of the lowest in the region (MTPTC, 2007). In addition, it is clear that, as is the case with the majority of other services, these are concentrated mainly at the level of the Metropolitan Area of ​​Port-Au-Prince (AMP). To date, there are only two fixed and mobile telephone operators (Jean-Baptiste, 2012), namely Digicel and Natcom. The telecommunications market remains highly concentrated, which is not beneficial for consumers (Rouzier, 2016).

The relatively poor quality of telecommunications services

To ensure consumer protection, CONATEL reports that tests on the quality of the services offered by Digicel and Natcom were carried out in March 2020. The results of these tests show the relatively poor quality of the services offered by these companies. For example, the ratio between the number of erroneous blocks and the total number of blocks received (Block Rate Error, BLER) which must be less than 2 in order not to have a break in the voice during conversations is 21 .41 and 22.71 for Digicel and Natcom, respectively. Under such conditions, despite the fact that the call drop rate; considered as the percentage of failed calls after connection on the total number of calls, is in the "EXCELLENT" and "GOOD" categories for Digicel (0.88) and Natcom (2.77) respectively, the Voice cuts force consumers to cut calls and redial the number. The seconds and minutes elapsed are lost, which once again penalizes consumers.

Regarding the data service, CONATEL underlines the existence of a kind of inconsistency in data rates. The discrimination that exists between geographical environments results in a median below the average, although the latter respects international standards requiring a data rate that exceeds 2000 Kbps.

Excessive pricing of telecommunications and financial services

Despite the relatively poor quality of services, some companies have charged exorbitant prices. This is no different from telecommunications services. In this regard, Domond and Koutroumpis (2017, p17) point out that "a fixed broadband connection (FTTx) from Digicel costs 55 US dollars / month minimum, which translates into 80% of the average annual income just to access the Internet . For higher speeds it costs even more, up to $220/month, a cost three times higher than the average income and almost 100 times higher than the income of the majority of Haitians”.

In addition, as the data in the following table number 1 show, the current rate increase applied to MonCash withdrawals is a good illustration. Indeed, given the marginalization of certain social strata regarding access to financial services, in concert with SOGEBANK, Digicel gave birth to the MonCash service with the aim of facilitating the realization of daily transactions by the users of the said service. Despite its [laudable] ambitions, for some time there has been a deterioration in the quality of service as well as some kind of system failure. Last week, many users denounced the fact that their MonCash accounts were not bailed out during deposits made via Sogebanking…

Along with this deterioration, Digicel, after the increases of 2020, decides, once again, to increase the fees on MonCash withdrawals. These increases vary from 16.67% for the withdrawal of an amount of less than 100 gourdes to 174.70%, in the event of the withdrawal of an amount exceeding 60,000 gourdes. For the withdrawal of an amount between 60,000 and 75,000 gourdes, the fees are currently set at 1,368 gourdes against 498 gourdes only in February 2020. In addition, the deposit on the account of a third party, identified as a transfer by the business, is no longer free. Although you can hijack the latter by depositing the amount in your account before making the transfer, these decisions, it seems, penalize users.

This decision is taken, in our opinion, at a time when, due to the security situation in the country, the number of users of the service is continuously increasing. At the same time, with a debt of 7.5 billion dollars in 2020, it seems that the company is in economic difficulty, according to information published by some media. Despite the increase in demand and the difficult situation in which the company finds itself, we believe that it is inconceivable that the prices of a product will more than double in one fell swoop.

Why not promote competition within this sector?

Concerning telecommunications services, the Haitian State has had a monopoly since the publication of the decree of October 12, 1977. As we pointed out in our previous text (Augustin, 2020), any modern State has the responsibility to ensure the well-being of their community. Thus, it must intervene in the event of market failures in order to restore the balance and fight against the greed of certain economic agents. Unlike Haiti, in some countries, measures are taken to protect consumers from corporate greed. Thus, it is strictly forbidden to apply exorbitant prices, under penalty of sanctions. At home, CONATEL should be at the forefront of the fight to protect the interests of users of telecommunications services. In addition to the investigations carried out and the transmission of reports to the companies concerned, we believe that the institution must have the necessary means to regulate the sector. Since it is accepted that competition is beneficial to consumers, it is the duty of the Haitian State, through CONATEL, to encourage the increase in competitive intensity in this branch.

Documents consulted

Augustin, E. (2020, May 30). Who defends the rights of consumers against the greed of producers? Link Haiti Media. Consulted on October 16, 2021 on https://linkhaitimedia.com/2020/05/30/qui-defend-le-droit-des-consommateurs-haitiens-face-a-la-cupidite-des-entreprises/

CONATEL. (2020. March). Tests on the quality of service of Digicel and Natcom. http://www.conatel.gouv.ht/node/474

Domond, G. (2017, January 18). How is the telecommunications sector organized in Haiti? The Newbie. Consulted on October 17, 2021 on https://lenouvelliste.com/article/167415/comment-est-organise-le-sector-des-telecommunications-en-haiti

Domond, G. & Koutroumpis, P. (2017, February 27). The Benefits of Government Digitization and Better Mobile Access in Haiti. Haiti Priorize

IHSI. (2020, 04). Economic accounts in 2020

Jean-Baptiste, J. (2012, November). Quality of service for the Telecom sector in Haiti.

Louis, E. (2018, May 11). Analysis of the telecommunications sector in the world and in Haiti. The Newbie. Retrieved October 17, 2021 from https://lenouvelliste.com/article/187370/analyse-du-sector-des-telecommunications-dans-le-monde-et-en-haiti

MTPTC. (2007, January). Telecommunications Strategy and Action Plan

Rouzier, G.H. (2016, May 20). Is the mobile phone of good quality? Challenge News. Retrieved October 16, 2021 from https://challengesnews.com/la-telephonie-mobile-est-elle-de-qualite%E2%80%89-3/

Ernson AUGUSTIN,

Economist, Master 2 in Public Management

augustinernson@gmail.com

Thomas Lalime