I'm not really sure what is going on over there but someone needs to start regulating... There are tons of good arguments for why we are paying way too much for our telecom needs in Canada but here is a nice little example from my recent experience.
I was just down in Nicaragua and threw a SIM card in my phone. The SIM itself cost $3 and entitled me to a phone number along with unlimited incoming calls. I put another $5 in credit on there and was able to make calls at the cost of $0.1/min. Furthermore, the country is equipped with 3G which meant I was able to check email and do all sort of nonsense with the same prepaid/no-contract SIM. I had very little service disruption and had reception at some very out of the way locations.
Nicaragua is a very poor country and must have difficulty finding personnel capable of designing and maintaining their network. Nevertheless, things seem to be going very well for this industry and they do it at a cost which embarrasses us in Canada. Yes, Nicaragua is a small country and easier to cover. However, some of our cities have a population that rivals that of the entire country.
I could be wrong about this but I think free-market economists would predict something quite different from the situation I just observed. I've asked a number of people what could account for an possible 1000% price difference between here and there. I haven't received any answers that make an sense as of yet and would love to hear one.
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