Camilo Thame, Business Reporter

David Hall: We will bring something to the consumer that they won't have seen before. -Contributed

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 told The Sunday Gleaner in an interview on Tuesday.

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.

camilo.thame@gleanerjm.com