TT: Where Telecom action is

Jamaica went up against telecommunications giant Cable&Wireless — and won. Phillip Paulwell, Jamaica Industry Minister, told delegates attending the Euromoney&Latin Finance Caribbean Investment Forum that Jamaica was able to set aside agreements that would have run to 2038. The panel discussion was on “Liberalisation and Competition.” Jamaica, he said, was always looking at the phased liberalisation of the telecommunications industry but could only do so, “if they negotiated C&W’s agreements away.” The liberalisation of the industry has led to tremendous investment, he said, noting that about JA$600 had already gone to the country’s coffers. Of that sum, about $100 million came from the sale of telephone licences. Liberalisation has also brought market growth, noting that it jumped from 70, 000 to 1.3 million out of a population of 2.5 million. Since liberalisation, Paulwell said, 200 licences have been issued.

“Competition ought to be fierce and even, he said. The major concern now was the access to data, especially boradband. To that end, Jamaica was looking to get a submarine cable into Jamaica and “unbundle” the existing structure. One Nortel representative made the point that  the Caribbean was on the list of international markets and the monopolistic telecom sector was one of the last bastions to come down. He said there was enough growth in this sector to encourage investments. He took the view that that telecompanies like C&W, AT&T and Digical will look at the Caribbean as individual islands and take advantage of economies of scale and hopefully reduce prices. Mike Singh, Telecom Caribe CEO described the Caribbean as having “digital constipation.” In TT, “That is where the action will be” he said, noting that things in the telecommunications sector will heat up when government moves to dismantle C&W’s grip.