By Andrew Green, Staff reporter
JAMAICA'S TELEGRAPH service will cease operations as of January 31 next year, says Cable & Wireless Jamaica's director of corporate communications, Errol Miller.
A telegraphic service was established between Kingston and Havana from 1869, thus linking the island with the USA and Europe even before a domestic postal service had been established. But the postal service, telephone, fax machine and e-mail have superseded the telegraph, Mr. Miller said.
"The volume of telegrams has fallen off significantly," he said. "It is not a viable service in terms of making a profit or just breaking even."
A telegram is a message sent via telegraph.
"If you tried to price the service to break even you would price it out of existence," the communications director said.
OVERSEAS TELEGRAMS
A telegram to the United Kingdom or the United States costs customers $5.60 per word, but Cable & Wireless pays $23 per word to Unitel, the international service provider about $23. The majority of overseas telegrams go to the US and UK.
Locally, a telegram costs $40 for the first 20 words and $1 for each additional word.
"Our company has for many years consistently operated that service at a loss," he said.
This is a far cry form the era a century ago when the telegraph was the state-of-the-art in modern technology or even up until World War II when it was the means through which news of Germany's surrender was communicated to most of the country.
A former telegraph operator now with the Postal Corporation of Jamaica told
Wednesday Business that Jamaica was once linked by a telegraphic web
stretching from Negril to Morant Point with post offices, postal agencies
and even lighthouses having access to the network.
Telegraphy has since fallen to the point where manufacturers of
equipment used by Cable & Wireless have discontinued production and it is
becoming difficult to find replacement parts.
"Now people are using the service for general communication rather than the
more urgent messages as in the past," he said. The telegraph is being used
to send birthday and Christmas messages.
"One of the biggest users was the Ministry of Labour sending out notices to
farm workers," Mr. Miller said. But today Jamaicans have about 1.5 million
cellular phone accounts and nearly half-a-million telephone lines, Mr.
Miller said. It is quicker, easier and more direct to call someone than to
send a telegram.
The fax message and e-mail also provide more direct communications, he
said.
The telegraph service had been encompassed by the Post and Telegraph
Department until it was shifted to the responsibility of Cable & Wireless
in 1986. "In the context of the new regulatory regime that exists for
communications, all lines of business must cove their cost," Mr. Miller
said. "We are not supposed to be cross-subsidising services."
