OCEANIC DIGITAL Jamaica has filed an appeal with the Supreme Court in an effort to bar Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ) from cutting inter-connection with its circuits.
The Supreme Court ruled in favour of Cable & Wireless last Thursday, in a suit brought against the company by Oceanic. Oceanic Digital had filed the suit after Cable & Wireless took steps to prevent Oceanic from terminating incoming overseas traffic on its network.
Oceanic's right to bring international telephone calls into Jamaica and to have those calls terminated on Cable & Wireless telephone systems, will soon be dealt with at a trial where all the facts can be presented and heard in open court, Oceanic stated in a press release issued yesterday.
A Cable & Wireless victory will result in Oceanic paying additional amounts to C&WJ for all telephone calls, both local and international, that originate or terminate on C&WJ's network.
This new tariff called Reference Interconnect Offer 5 (RIO 5), has not yet been approved by the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR), Oceanic stated. It said its major concern is that these additional charges will have to be passed on to the Jamaican consumer while the benefit goes to C&WJ. Oceanic Digital Jamaica purchased a wireless telephone license from the Jamaican Government in 2000, and received the right to process international long distance telephone traffic in March 2003. Oceanic said it believes that it has the same right to process this traffic, as does Cable & Wireless Jamaica. Oceanic said it remains confident that its position is supported by the current laws and regulations and will continue to pursue its rights as a licensed wireless telephone company.
