Governments urged to harmonise taxes and
telecommunications rules across the region
ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, Aug. 27,
2026 - Differences in taxes and telecommunications regulations across
CARICOM Member States remain a major obstacle to the full elimination of mobile
roaming charges, according to Secretary-General of the Caribbean
Telecommunications Union (CTU), Rodney Taylor.
Taylor said regional
telecommunications providers have argued that they cannot introduce a single
domestic-style arrangement while operating under different regulatory and tax
requirements in each country.
“The operators have said we’re
not able to do this because there’s disparity in regulatory regimes within the
CARICOM Member States,” Taylor told reporters on Tuesday.
He was speaking during a media
conference on the sidelines of the 22nd Caribbean Internet Governance Forum at
the Radisson Grenada Beach Resort.
Taylor said some
telecommunications taxes and charges imposed in countries such as Jamaica and
Barbados do not apply in Grenada or Saint Lucia. He said governments and
regulators must therefore work towards harmonising their rules before the
region can achieve the complete removal of roaming charges.
“We have some work to do on our
side as governments and regulators to ensure that there’s also harmonisation on
the regulatory side,” he said.
CARICOM took an initial step in
February 2022 with the signing of the Declaration of St George’s Towards the
Reduction of Intra-CARICOM Roaming Charges.
The agreement, reached with
Digicel Group and Cable & Wireless Communications, introduced lower and
more predictable rates for regional voice calls, text messages and mobile data.
However, it stopped short of eliminating roaming charges.
Taylor stressed that the 2022
agreement was intended as a step towards the wider objective of allowing
CARICOM residents to use their domestic mobile packages while travelling within
the region.
He recalled Barbados Prime
Minister Mia Mottley describing the desired arrangement as one in which
Caribbean people could “roam like you’re at home, because you are at home
within the region.”
Taylor pointed to the European
Union, where customers can generally use their domestic mobile plans while
travelling between participating countries without paying additional roaming
charges.
He said the same principle should
eventually apply to people travelling between Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and
Tobago, Saint Lucia and other CARICOM countries.
The CTU Secretary-General noted
that the main telecommunications providers already manage their networks on a
regional basis. Once governments address the differences in taxes and
regulations, he said, the operators should have little justification for maintaining
high roaming fees.
Taylor said customers travelling
within the region should already be able to purchase roaming packages
introduced under the St George’s Declaration.
“Coming out of the Declaration of
St George’s, you should be able to buy a roaming passport for any destination
that you go to within the Caribbean,” he said. “If you get a high bill, call
me.”
He also pointed to the growing
availability of electronic SIM cards, or eSIMs, which allow travellers to
purchase data plans without changing a physical SIM card. Taylor said he has
used inexpensive eSIM packages during his international travels for services
such as Google Maps, video streaming and ride-hailing applications.
“The era of high and ridiculous
roaming charges should be over right now,” he said. “Certainly, within the
CARICOM Single ICT Space, it should not exist.”
Taylor said the CTU would
continue working with national regulators, including National
Telecommunications Regulatory Commissions, and emerging regional regulatory
bodies to address the remaining disparities.
He did not provide a timetable
for the complete elimination of roaming charges.
