Phillip Paulwell

The US telephone services provider, AT&T Wireless will use its cellular phone licence in Jamaica to provide seamless wireless service to its North American customers who visit Jamaica as tourists, or for business.

But the Americans are yet to agree on a purchase price with the Jamaican government for the licence -- though both parties appear much closer to an agreement than was the case over a year ago when AT&T Wireless first expressed an interest in the Jamaican market.

AT&T had offered US$1 million for the licence while the government was asking US$15 million.

Yesterday technology minister, Philip Paulwell acknowledged that the government had cut its asking price to reflect the diminution in the value of the licence, given the saturation of the cellular market.

"I have a price I want in mind," Paulwell told the Business Observer. "The value would not be the same as offered back then because of the success of Digicel and the (expansion) of C&W, the value would have been reduced."

But Paulwell said that AT&T Wireless would not be seeking to go after the Jamaican market that was now being served by the three current cellular service providers -- Cable & Wireless, Digicel and Centennial.

"It is not trying to set up a traditional service as Digicel or Centennial," he said. The company, he explained, wanted to establish a seamless wireless service for its North American customers visiting Jamaica.

Other sources say that an AT&T operation in Jamaica would allow the company to tap into the huge market of Jamaicans who travel, by offering them handsets that they can use when visiting America.

Three years ago the government sold one cellular licence each to Digicel and Centennial for a combined price tag of approximately US$92.5 million. Later it sought US$15 million for another licence from AT&T Wireless.

Those licences helped to propel the number of cellular lines in Jamaica from a few thousand two years ago to about 1.3 million now.

"What has changed is the price that they are offering," said Paulwell yesterday, of the discussions with AT&T Wireless. He said that he would be meeting with the AT&T team this week.

AT&T Wireless first applied for the licence last June, with its president visiting Paulwell last month to sell him his vision for the Jamaican operation.

As part of the licensing agreement, the prospective company must demonstrate that it has minimum net capital of US$40 million and that it has been in operation for over three years with a network of at least 100,000 users. It must be tax compliant in the jurisdiction of its operations, and be able to demonstrate financial and technical capability to provide the cell service.

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World