Economic Affairs reduces the costs for mobile operators in the Dutch Caribbean

The minister of Economic Affairs amended two ministerial regulations* on a proposal from the Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands (RA), the implementing and supervising entity for telecom. As a result of this a substantial reduction is attained of the fees which mobile operators have to pay the agency. With the reduction an economic impulse is given to the (mobile) telecom market in the Dutch Caribbean. The parties may use this saving for instance by investing in the improvement of their networks and services towards the end user or in a reduction of the tariffs (for roaming).

The fees for communication by radiation are also reduced. The connections are significant, among other things for enabling telecommunication traffic among the islands, whether or not as an alternative for the maritime cables.

The reduction of the tariffs became attainable because RA was able to keep the total cost for the efforts during the past years at a lower level than the total revenues. Furthermore the revenues for the agency increased as a consequence of the augmented use of telecom.

Apart from the reduction of fees, the lessening of an administrative burden is also achieved. Operators now need to provide the agency with fewer data. This also leads to a financial saving.

* Note: this concerns the “Regulation of fees for telecommunication concessions Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands BES 2015” and the “Regulation of fees for telecommunication provisions Radiocommunications Agency Netherlands BES 2015.

(BT&P Publication period: 2016)