MONTEGO BAY – More than a year after the telecoms sector was opened up to allow cable operators the chance to provide Internet service, only one has taken up the offer, much to the dismay of the Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology Phillip Paulwell.

“I am disappointed with the slow pace at which they have moved to operationalise these licences. It gives them a tremendous opportunity that no one else has,” the minister told the Observer in a recent interview. “They can benefit from the full range of converging technology, they can transmit telecommunications, broadcasting and computing. Nobody else has that glorious opportunity that they have squandered.”

Cable television has gained widespread popularity across the island and the technology ministry now sees an opportunity to piggyback on its success to get the Internet into living rooms across the country. But the cable operators have been slow off the mark.

Entertainment Systems Ltd (ESL) in Kingston was said to be the only cable provider that now offers Internet services. They got their licence last November, a month after the sector opened up under the second phase of the liberalisation process, and began offering the service in the Corporate Area in April.

“It wasn’t very difficult for us to get started because this is something that we planned from the day we started with cable. So from the very onset we were building our lines with this in mind,” said CEO Stephen Chung. “But for a cable company to do this now without having done it before, it would be very difficult for them, because they would have to completely rebuild their system, but ours was designed this way from the beginning.”

Meanwhile, operators like Cornwall Communications Ltd in Montego Bay are now facing the challenge of switching miles of existing cable to fibre optic lines with broader bands and the ability to transmit more data. CEO Roxroy Sinclair said he recently submitted his application for Internet service and he plans to serve the greater Montego Bay area by early January.

“It’s going to cost quite a bit, a ‘tonne load’ of money. I don’t want to give a figure yet but I know it’s going to cost a lot,” he said.

But for Sinclair, the investment is worth it. Cornwall Communications, like ESL, is zoned for a good chunk of an area that would likely use cable/net service.

“We now cover the city (of Montego Bay) from Ironshore at Half Moon Golf Club right back to Bogue. We will have most of the people who would want net service,” Sinclair said.

Meanwhile, ESL offers its services in sections of Kingston and some of their clients include schools.

But some cable operators, by virtue of their geographic location, realise that expanding into Internet service is not a feasible option. Beason Communications Ltd, for example, will not even try to offer Internet services in the zones it serves in Clarendon. However, CEO Ansel Beason will offer net service from just outside Montego Bay to Lucea via another company called Matrix.

Matrix started operating about three months ago and according to Beason, they are putting in their infrastructure with Internet service in mind. But their progression from cable to Internet, he said, will depend heavily on the cost of the project.

“We have to do this thing step by step because once you are putting in the infrastructure you have to make sure you put it in right. And it costs a lot of money to do it the right way for the high-speed Internet,” Beason explained.

According to Paulwell, he has always made it clear that he expects the operators to collaborate, and get past the geographical and financial constraints.

“There is no restriction on them pooling resources, this was an approach we recommended. It doesn’t make sense for individuals to set up their own infrastructure. I am still hoping they will co-operate. It will require a lot of capital, it’s better to co-operate and share costs. It is one of the fastest growing segments of business in the US, it’s profitable,” he said.

The Observer was unable to get an indication of just how profitable the business can be, as ESL’s Chung opted not to provide any indication of how many clients now cough up the US$75 a month for his Internet services. He was also reluctant to discuss how much it has cost him to enter the market.

And while there have been suggestions, in the past, that Jampro should get involved and help cable operators expand into Internet service – a suggestion that the minister has embraced – there are some stumbling blocks.

“It’s a good idea to suggest that they seek international partners but a number of potential partners have complained of not being able to make a breakthrough because people don’t want to give up shares in their business for a partnership. But isn’t it really better to have two per cent of $100 million than 100 per cent of $20 million,” Paulwell argued.