By Al Edwards, Financial EditorPRESIDENT AND CEO of Capital Solutions William Massias, his brother Andrew and Felipe Hernandez of Puerto Rico are to be the majority stakeholders in a $500 million investment in an islandwide wireless carrier operation which will see companies accessing the best of telephone voice and data technology.
Speaking with the Financial Gleaner yesterday, Mr. William Massais said: "The initial investment stands at $250 million but our other Jamaican partners have pledged a further $250 million. This new venture is entirely equity funded. The company will be called Island Networks and will be a local telecom player offering high speed data service on a Multiple Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network. This will allow us to prioritise data, voice and video to all our customers. In effect we will be another telephone company in Jamaica."
HURRICANE-PROOF
Mr. Massais and his partners have spent close on US$2 million on infrastructure and on setting up a hurricane-proof earth station in Beverley Hills, St. Andrew.
With Hurricane Ivan ravishing large parts of the country, many companies with branch networks called upon the services of Island Networks which got those clients up and operational. Many of their clients will be banks, restaurants and other entities which rely upon data, voice and telephone technological services.
INTERNATIONAL CALLS
Cable & Wireless once dominated international call services with everyone having to go through their services. That has now changed. Mr. Massias says that his company can ensure that customers can conduct international calls over an MPLS. "Our systems and operational checks should be completed in another week and we should be ready to take on business islandwide by the end of this month. We will initially be employing 30 people and should have 100 over the next three years. It took us a year to get 8 different licences from Spectrum Authority and the Office of Utilities Regulations (OUR)."
The company has spent the last 5 months setting up services in Kingston, Portmore, Spanish Town, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay, Mandeville, May Pen, St. Elizabeth, Old Harbour and Negril (operational in another 2 weeks).
"This level of investment demonstrates the level of investor confidence that now exists in Jamaica. I must emphasise that this is a wholly-owned Jamaican operation which is an alternative source providing islandwide voice and data services. It is a first for a Jamaican company."
