By Al Edwards, Business Co-ordinator
AT&T's Business Development Manager for Latin America and the the Caribbean, Carmen Forsman (left), receives a licence from the Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology Phillip Paulwell to operate a cellular service in Jamaica. The signing of the new cellular licence between AT&T and the Government of Jamaica took place yesterday at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston. - Rudolph Brown/Staff Photographer
WIRELESS GIANT AT&T acquired its 16th licence in the Caribbean yesterday when it officially signed an agreement with the Jamaican Government to acquire a licence to provide a wireless service in Jamaica.
"This licence was awarded in consideration for the sum of $360 million and will involve an investment of $1 billion in the first 12 months of operations," said Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology Phillip Paulwell. He was speaking at the official signing ceremony at the Knutsford Court Hotel, New Kingston yesterday.
AT&T was awarded a Spectrum Licence in the 1900 band for the deployment of its mobile cellular network.
"It has been observed in some quarters that the domestic market is near saturation point and thus could not accommodate any new player," he said. "In this regard, I wish to publicly commend AT&T for their positive endorsement of Jamaica as a viable investment opportunity, and specifically for recognising the untapped potential which continues to exist in the Jamaican telecommunications industry."
AT&T has chosen to invest at a time when the cost of acquiring customers is higher, the cost of deploying a network in the 1900 band is higher than for the bands occupied by the other licensees and at a time when the available spectrum is at its lowest point, he said
AT&T has now won the fourth cellular licence in Jamaica and intends, among other things, to offer a roaming service.
CUTTING-EDGE WIRELESS SERVICES
Through a release issued by AT&T Wireless yesterday, the company' president, Jordan Roderick, declared: "Soon we will be able to provide the same cutting-edge wireless services in Jamaica as we provide in other parts of the Caribbean and the U.S. AT&T Wireless customers from the United States will be able to enjoy the convenience of using their own GSM devices while in Jamaica, including the ability to receive calls at their own phone number. This gives business travellers and tourists one more reason to visit Jamaica."
AT&T intends to focus on tourism to drive its business here and will be encouraging visitors to use their phones while in Jamaica. Minister Paulwell sees this as both acknowledging and enhancing the country's continued role as a leading tourist destination in the Caribbean, and opportunities will be explored particularly in co-operative advertising.
AT&T's Business Development manager for Latin America & the Caribbean, Carmen Forsman, said the company has been pursuing the license for some time.
OPPORTUNITY
"We are seeing an opportunity in Jamaica that other carriers can't really realise simply because we have such a dominant position in the United States and Canada," Ms. Forsman said. "We have close to 23 million subscribers in the United States alone and with the Cingular acquisition that is pending and should close at the end of the year, it should bring that number up to 45 million."
This means AT&T can promote Jamaica as a tourism destination to its U.S.-based subscribers, she said. "We will also bring a lot of value added services that will make our offering different in many ways from Digicel's. We will focus on providing Jamaicans with a network that is very robust and can provide high speed data applications, which is the core part of our offering in the Caribbean."
AT&T has reported revenues of US$16.6 billion over the past four quarters.
FIXED LINES
Taking an overview of the telecoms industry in Jamaica today, Minister Paulwell noted that combined fixed line customers and mobile users now number 1.8 million subscribers in a population of 2.6 million. As it stands in Jamaica today, 52 per cent of 772,000 households are currently served by fixed line telephones.
The Government realises that there must now be a shift in emphasis from voice telephony to the provision of data services coupled with a corresponding increase in high speed access to the Internet allowing for the delivery of broadband services.
Over the last three years, the Government has approved and issued over 314 telecoms licences.
Wireless Ventures Jamaica, a subsidiary of AT&T Wireless, will run AT&T's operations here in Jamaica.
Since the commencement of the liberalisation process the country has attracted over US$500 million in investment in the sector. Capital investment as of December 2003 is some $8.45 billion.
