Ross Sheil, Staff Reporter
THE UNITED States government has announced an inquiry into Jamaica's introduction of an international call levy. This follows complaints by three major U.S. telecommunications carriers who were temporarily blocked by Jamaican carriers for refusing to pay the levy when it was introduced in May.
The inquiry does not focus solely on Jamaica but on practices that the United States' Federal Communication Commission (FCC) identified here and also in other countries such as Ecuador and Nicaragua.
The FCC is investigating what it called "anti-competitive" 'whipsawing' in the form of service blocking or disruption by foreign carriers. AT&T, MCI and Sprint were all blocked from Jamaica but later agreed to pay the levy and were reconnected.
'JAMAICA WAS RIGHT'
"Jamaica was right," insisted Colin Campbell, chairman of the Universal Service Fund, which manages the levy. "We intend to respond to the FCC and we need to brief a legal team to respond."
"We are sure that it was the right thing for the government to have done in Jamaica. It was a levy charged on Jamaican carriers and within Jamaican law," added Mr. Campbell.
"Settlement rates paid by U.S. carriers for terminating calls here had fallen so low that it needed to be redressed. The government had every right to enforce its law," he said in reference to the blocking of U.S. carriers.
The levy is made at 3 US cents per minute on incoming international calls terminating on fixed lines and 2 US cents on calls terminating on cellular phones.
The levy is expected to raise $1 billion dedicated to the government's E-Learning Project aimed at children in grade seven to 11.
