The Government will by month-end rake in little more than $500 million from the sale of a new cellular licence to a local company.

Solutrea Jamaica Limited, formerly Biscom, was granted the new mobile licence effective June 1, after an extensive due diligence exercise carried out by the Ministry of Finance and Planning, according to minister with responsibility for technology, Phillip Paulwell.

In his contribution to the Sectoral Debate in Gordon House on Wednesday, Mr. Paulwell said two companies had expressed an interest in acquiring the licence.

He added, however, that one of the companies did not complete the due diligence process which was conducted by the Financial Investigation Division.

He reported that the Government had collected a total of $4.36 billion from the sale of cellular licences over the past seven years.

'Solutrea Jamaica Limited, formerly Biscom, was granted the new mobile licence effective June 1.'