Haiti's economic and social indicators are still far lower than the average forLatin America and the Caribbean. The political and economic turmoil of recentyears has kept Haiti's telecommunications sector as one of the least developedin the world. In early 2009, Haiti's fixed line teledensity was amongst thelowest in the world, at less than 2%. Fixed-line services are provided bystate-owned monopoly operator Telecommunications d' Haiti (Teleco), a branch ofthe Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Communications. Although in mid-2007the government announced its decision to privatise Teleco, by late 2008 Telecowas still government owned and with the economy still reeling from significanthurricane damage, it appeared unlikely for the privatisation to return to thenational agenda during 2009.
Given the stagnating fixed-line infrastructure andpoor fixed-line penetration rates, mobile is likely to remain the principal formof telecommunications for the short-to-medium term. In the longer term growthcan also be expected to come from wireless broadband solutions such as WiMAX.This report contains overviews, analyses and statistics of the Haitianfixed-line, mobile and broadband markets. Key highlights:* In early 2008, Comcel in partnership with Alcatel-Lucent, launched a WiMAXnetwork under Comcel's 3.5GHz licence. * Haiti's mobile market continued to enjoy strong growth during 2008, reaching apenetration level of almost 40% by September, up from 18% in 2006. * Digicel's subscriber growth in Haiti remained robust during 2008, with Digicelaccounting for approximately 63% of the mobile market by September-2008. * In August and September 2008, Haiti experienced a series of devastatinghurricane, with economic damage and loss estimated to be over $900 million,approximately 15% of GDP.
Despite Some Predicted Growth in Spending, According to a KPMG Report, NorthAmerican Road Investment Will Likely Fall Short of DemandStrategic Investment in North American Roads and Transportation Vital toMaintain CompetitivenessNEW YORK, May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Some small growth in North American roadspending is predicted in a new report, "Trend Monitor: North American Roads,Outlook 2009-2013," by KPMG International, the global network of audit, taxand advisory firms, yet likely not enough to meet demand over the next fiveyears.In the United States alone, KPMG's analysis predicts total annual roadexpenditure in 2013 to reach $124.8 billion, a 2.9 percent increase from 2009estimated spending. In contrast, the American Society of Civil Engineers' 2009Report Card predicts that $186 billion in road expenditures is needed annuallyover the next five years to significantly improve road conditions."North American roads, particularly in the United States, are hampered by twomajor challenges -- scarcity and congestion," said Stephen Beatty, partner,KPMG in Canada, and head of infrastructure advisory for KPMG in the Americas."We have used up most of our excess capacity, and now we're faced with eitherrationing the capacity we have, or building new capacity."Beatty continued, "North America has been living off the grand infrastructureinvestments of 50 years ago, but it's time to bite the bullet and find ways tomake strategic transportation investments. With foresight and conviction, wecan develop new, large-scale projects that can help enhance North America'scompetitive position and positively impact future generations."KPMG's Trend Monitor: North American Roads provides estimates of the size andgrowth prospects of road investment in the United States, Canada, and Mexico,including breakdowns by state. The report also provides a qualitativeassessment of the infrastructure investment climate by state, such as thelegislative environment for infrastructure investment Other U.S.