Flow CEO Rick Pardy (right) and Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell at a Flow function last year.

Telecommunications newcomer, Flow, and former monopoly provider Cable and Wireless (C&W) have emerged as the top two preferred bidders for building the Internet backbone that will bring universal access to Jamaican schools and libraries, according to a highly placed government source.

Flow, the operating brand for Columbus Communications, the telecoms firm that landed underwater fibre optic cable in Jamaica early last year, "is the front-runner of the two bidders", said the source.

In all, 10 firms - local and overseas - vied for the job to build the network that would ultimately connect 150 high schools and 100 public libraries.

Flow CEO Rick Pardy declined to comment on the bid, as did Technology Minister Phillip Paulwell. But Paulwell, who also holds the telecommunications portfolio, noted that the final decision was late in being made because of bureaucratic delays.

"There is some disappointment in the implementation of the project because we are ensuring that we meet all requirement in terms of contracting and procurement," Paulwell told the Business Observer in an interview last week.

According to the project feasibility study, published in April 2005, the service was to be rolled out in phases over three years, with 20 schools being targeted in the first year, 60 in year two, while another 70 schools are to come on stream in the third year.

The implementation schedule placed the completion of the project within the current fiscal year, which will run to March 31, 2008. So far, no major spending has been done on the project, according to Pauwell, putting the initial targeted completion time beyond this fiscal year.

The project to build the wide area network (WAN) is being managed by the Universal Access Fund Company, a separate entity from the E-Learning Project Company (EPC) which is responsible for the other aspects of the project, including sourcing educational material compatible with the technology and IT equipment for the schools.

The EPC had already started negotiating with Dell World Trade Corporation (Dell) and Illuminat Jamaica for the building of the local area networks (LANs) and the provision of IT equipment eight months ago, and had identified EHC Industries Limited as a supplier of school furniture.

Combined, those contracts were valued at US$29 million ($1.96 billion).

The project would be funded by the universal access levy imposed June last year on overseas telecoms terminating calls in Jamaica - US$0.02 per minute for terminating on mobile networks and US$0.03 per minute on fixed-line phones.

Paulwell said that between June 1, 2005 and the end of February 2007, his ministry collected $2.5 billion from the levy. Should the levy run to June 1 2008 as initially set out, the ministry should collect in excess of $4.3 billion, well over the $3 billion initially envisaged.

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