Claiming that the approval of its cellular licence had been politicised, the embattled Solutrea Group yesterday said it was withdrawing its interest in becoming Jamaica’s fourth cellular provider, even as the firm insisted that it had observed the correct procedures.

“We are giving back the licence to Minister Paulwell unconditionally, founding member of Wiiscom Technologies and shareholder of Solutrea Group, Keith Walker, told journalists at a hastily called late morning press conference at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston. “We will not involve ourselves in the politics of the country.”

Walker said that Solutrea had plans to proceed in Jamaica with respect to other businesses after the August 27 general elections. However, the Government, he added, would return the B$15 million payment made by Solutrea with the condition that further discussions were needed with the administration.

“Financing was in place not only for the licence, but also for the roll-out of our network in the shortest possible time,” Walker said. “A total of US$50 million had been earmarked for our initial investment.”

He added that the controversy and questions regarding Solutrea’s corporate integrity and bona fides had led the company to the conclusion that the timing of the Jamaica project was not favourable.

In June, Phillip Paulwell, the minister of technology, told the House of Representatives that following an extensive due diligence process undertaken by the Financial Intelligence Division of the Ministry of Finance, he had issued a cellular operating licence to Solutrea, formerly Wiiscom Technologies Inc.

According to Paulwell, the licence would become effective June 1, and the full payment of J$510 million would be made by the end of June.

But the deal became embroiled in controversy when it was revealed in July that the sums for the licence were not paid at the due date and that attorney-at-law Minette Palmer, who represented Solutrea, was also an advisor to Paulwell. It was also alleged that Palmer held shares in Solutrea Jamaica, the group’s subsidiary that would operate the local cellular network.

Opposition spokesman on mining, energy and telecommunications, Clive Mullings, early July called on Paulwell to make a statement on the issue, as well as declare the licence null and void, following Solutrea’s failure to meet the required preconditions.

The technology minister subsequently suspended the licence pending payment, and on July 13 Solutrea paid B$15 million, but the licence was never reinstated.

At yesterday’s press briefing, Walker denied that Palmer was a shareholder of Solutrea and insisted that his company had worked within the guidelines set by the Spectrum Management Authority, the independent regulatory body set up by the Government to manage radio frequency spectrum.

“Minette Palmer is not a shareholder, all she benefited from are attorney’s fees,” Walker asserted.

Walker told journalists that Solutrea was awarded a mobile licence in May with two conditions for its activation. “The two conditions were the satisfactory completion of the due diligence review being conducted by the Ministry of Finance’s Financial Investigation Unit and certification of clean frequencies by the Spectrum Management Authority,” said Walker.

In explaining the payment delay, Walker said that it was his company’s intention to pay for the licence in full upon the completion of the conditionalities.

“My information is that this is standard practice in the awarding of mobile spectrum licences by the minister with responsibility for telecommunications in Jamaica, and was certainly the case after the two auctions and the negotiation with AT&T,” said Walker.

“We followed the rules. We followed the application process. That we did in full compliance of the law,” the Barbados-based Walker added.

He held aloft his passport and offered it for scrutiny while telling journalists that he had not commented during the period of controversy as he was actually in China and other countries in the Far East on business.

Walker also charged that critics of Solutrea’s operations in Barbados had not sought to ascertain the facts before commenting.

“Our licences (in Barbados) are not only paid as at Friday, but starting at 7:00 pm (Friday) we turned up our circuits. They would have known that had they checked their facts and made a simple phone call,” said Walker.