The Oceanic Digital (formerly Centennial) building

Cellular services provider, Oceanic Digital Jamaica is projecting that by year-end its signal will cover 70 per cent of the island - in line with a clause in its 1999 cellular licence.

"We expect to meet the deadline of 70 per cent coverage by the the end of the year and have islandwide build-out in two years," David Palmer, vice-president of Oceanic, told members of the Rotary Club of Downtown Kingston last week, at a luncheon at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in Kingston.

Palmer said that the US$30 million recently secured by his firm from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) would help to fund the expansion.

The total cost of Oceanic's expansion is US$85.2 million, of which the shareholders will provide US$55.2 million, and the IDB loan, the balance.

Currently, Oceanic which has 70,000 subscribers lacks coverage in St Thomas, Portland, St Mary and Negril.

The company began offering cellular phone service in Jamaica about two years ago, having paid US$45 million to the Jamaican government for the cell licence in 1999. The layout of its infrastructure was temporarily stalled when its US parent company became cash-strapped during the tech fall-out of 2000.

Jamaica's two other cell companies - Cable & Wireless, and Digicel - both had a head start on Oceanic and last summer began offering cellular dial-up speed Internet access.

It is not clear if and when Oceanic plans to offer a similar service. Palmer suggested in his address to the Rotarians that Oceanic may have to seek Jamaican joint venture partners to invest in this segment of the industry.

"Why don't we put together some joint ventures with some Jamaican companies and roll out products that they consider, instead of being the sole source?" he said. "That is the approach I would rather see than waiting on us to spend our money."

If introduced, the high-speed Internet connection would be via cell phones, laptops and desk computers.

Oceanic says that its core CDMA cell network can deliver faster Internet connection than the GSM system used by C&W and Digicel. It is for this reason that Oceanic says it has been in talks with the Jamaica Postal Corporation to offer the high-speed Internet access at post offices across the country.

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