MULLINGS

Clive Mullings, Opposition Spokesman on Mining, Energy and Telecommunications, is suggesting that parliamentary oversight be introduced for the Universal Access Fund.

The fund was esta-blished to collect a levy on incoming interna-tional calls to Jamaica.

Speaking at a Gleaner Editors' Forum last week, Mullings said the board of the fund handles a large sum of money and, as such, it should be monitored.

"We are concerned about how those funds are being utilised. Is it being monitored? Is it being audited?" he questioned.

Conflict of interest

The shadow minister concedes that the utilisation of the funds for e-learning was a good idea, but contends that more emphasis should be placed on software development.

Mullings also expressed concerns about the composition of the fund's board.

"I do not believe that Digicel, Oceanic Digital and Cable and Wireless ought to be on that board because they are not the only players in the telecommunications industry, and it suggests the danger of a conflict of interest," he argued.

Purpose of fund

The Opposition Spokes-man pointed out that 60 per cent of spectrum for high-speed Internet services had been allocated to the major players in the tele-com-munications industry with the remaining 40 per cent being reserved for smaller companies through an application process.

"That can't be right," he stated.

The Universal Access Fund Limited was set up under the P.J. Patterson administration in June last year to manage the levy earned from telecommunication companies.

Under the fund, all tele-communications carriers pay a service charge of US$0.03 per minute on all incoming interna-tional minutes for termination on fixed-wired networks, and US$0.02 on all incoming international minutes for termination on cellular networks.

The revenue to be earned from the charges is projected at J$1 billion annually.