Jamaica
News - Real Estate - Services
Source: TechJamaica, February 11, 2007
Digicel seeks
laptop makers in France, China
Digicel Jamaica, which plans to dish out subsidised laptops with
the launch of its Internet product by mid-year, says it is
negotiating with manufacturers in France and China to supply the
machines.
Essentially,
Digicel, the Jamaica Caribbean trade name for Irish firm Mossel,
will attempt to replicate the strategy it employed when it rolled
out its mobile telephone service in Jamaica six years ago, to
start the erosion of Cable & Wireless' telecommunications
monopoly in the English-speaking Caribbean. Then, it flooded
the market with cheap mobile phones
Affordable offering
"We will
bring something to the consumer that they won't have seen
before," said David Hall, the Irishman who runs the Jamaican
arm of the telecommunications firm. "It is very
important to make our offering affordable to Jamaicans, so they
can have access to Internet, just like with mobile phones."
Hall's goal is
simple but bold. He plans to double Internet penetration in
a short space of time, "regardless of what actual usage is
now."
The latest
Gleaner-commissioned Bill Johnson poll places Internet access at
17 per cent of the population. However, newcomer, Flow,
which offers broadband Internet from its fibre optic network,
places Internet subscription at only five per cent of households,
or 38,000 homes.
While Internet
penetration estimates may vary, it is clear that the actual number
of persons that use the Internet on a monthly basis is closer to
the higher range.
"Forty five
per cent of our customer base uses GPRS on a monthly basis,"
Hall stated.
Digicel currently
has 1.6 million "active subscribers" according to Hall
it remains unclear the number of customers that have more than one
phone.
GPRS, short for
general packet radio service, is a packet-based wireless
communication service based on GSM communication that allows
continuous connection to the data services for mobile phone and
computer users. It allows Digicel mobile users to browse the
Internet.
Mainstream Internet
Digicel plans to
move into mainstream Internet, with the islandwide launch of its
wireless Internet product, WiMax, to residential customers by the
third quarter of this year. The telecom is currently testing
the product among select business customers, such as Sangster's
Bookstore, which uses the service to link its stores across the
country.
In terms of its
mobile business, Hall says he will continue to target customers
who are on his competitors' networks, with the specific near-term
goal of snatching away Cable and Wireless customers that will have
to switch from first-generation TDMA phones, which will be dropped
off C&W's network, come March 30.
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