Business
Jamaica: Wireless competition and rivalry intensifies
Digicel, whose position on number portability has been unclear, now says all three “issues will serve to enhance the telecoms landscape”.
There was no agreement on interconnection rates only a framework on which an eventual deal could emerge.
Its understood that the Office of Utilities Regulation has proposed an interim rate of J$5 (US$ 0.06).
LIME is pushing for Government to move immediately to pass and enact the emergency legislation already tabled to get rates down in the interim while the parties agree a final position on cross-network charges.
The legislation proposes that the interim rate structure would stay in place for no longer than a year.
Sinclair has blamed Digicel’s dominance of the mobile market for its underperforming mobile business segment, which is a primary contributor to losses racked up by the Jamaican operations over four to five years.
LIME has reported losses of J$3.8 billion (US$44 million) this year already for the nine-month period ending December 2011.
“Our business continues to operate under challenging circumstances, in particular an unfavourable regulatory regime which continues to afford our major competitor a distinct advantage while hampering our operations,” said LIME in its financials released this month.
A decade ago, start-up Digicel overtook former monopoly LIME as mobile market leader of the newly liberalised telecoms sector. Currently, the mobile market stands at 2.9 million subscribers.
