Jamaica looking for third mobile operator

Jamaica's government is considering granting a third mobile telecommunications license, according to Phillip Paulwell, minister of science, technology, energy and mining.

Speaking at the opening of the Energy Services Company (ESCO) conference last week, Paulwell said that the Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) and the Spectrum Management Authority (SMA) had already approved the issue of the license and had approached the cabinet for approval.

Jamaica previously had three operators, but América Móvil's Claro unit was acquired by Digicel in 2011, leaving only Digicel and Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC).

Last month, CWC announced that its Flow brand had begun rolling out 4G LTE technology, after winning AWS spectrum last April.

Flow incorporates the businesses of cable company Flow and telco LIME following last year's US$3bn merger of their parent companies CWC and Columbus Communications.

Digicel acquired 700MHz for 4G in 2014 but is yet announce plans for roll-out of LTE.

According to the most recent data available from the OUR, Jamaica had 2.98mn mobile subscriptions in 1Q15, 95% of which are prepaid.

Last year, Julian Wilkins, head of regulation at Digicel and chairman of the Caribbean telecoms association Canto told BNamericas that auctioning the 700MHz is desperately needed to boost 4G coverage in the Caribbean region.

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