Paulwell brokers Lime/Digicel agreement

Jamaica Observer

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

MINISTER of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Phillip Paulwell, after spending the last three weeks in dialogue with the country's two major telecommunications giants to address matters affecting the industry, has managed to broker an agreement between them.

The two were at loggerheads over the imminent merger of Claro and Digicel.

In a release today Paulwell said the the two parties participated willingly in a round of meetings initiated by the ministry in order to agree on pressing regulatory issues.

"I am pleased to state that the result of our efforts is agreement between the Ministry and the three largest carriers; LIME, Digicel, and Flow on a broad range of issues. The complete understanding of the parties is that the following matters will be addressed with expedition for the betterment of the industry and the nation as a whole," he said.

Paulwell said the parties had agreed on:

The introduction of local number portability for both fixed and mobile networks;

The establishment and resourcing of the single telecommunications regulator; and

The review of the Universal Service Obligation to include access to broadband services.

"As Minister, I remain committed to the view that the telecommunications industry must be seen by the world as one that is guided by international best practices, and we must signal to investors that Jamaica remains a viable market that embraces competition. In this regard, it is my intention to conduct an immediate review of the emergency legislation that was tabled in Parliament by the previous administration, so that the regulator can be empowered to impose interim rates, pending their final determination under the existing schemes of rate regulation." Paulwell said.