KINGSTON, Jamaica—A fourth cellular operator is expected to enter the Jamaica market on 1 March, 2003.
The Jamaican government announced plans to award a license for mobile communications, saying the market is far from saturated. Centennial Digital last October joined the Irish company Digicel and Cable & Wireless as the three providers of mobile services in the country.
The auction system used in Jamaica has netted close to US$100 million from license sales for the two competitors to Cable & Wireless.
But amid reports of AT&T Wireless being mentioned as a prospective bidder, local companies say the high costs associated with winning a license and establishing a network virtually rule out local participation.
The opening of the market has helped increase the number of cellular subscribers to close to 700,000 in a population of about 2.6 million people.
