Mossel Jamaica Limited II

completed

The project involves the expansion of a nation-wide digital GSM cellular network in Jamaica offering a wide range of standard and value-added mobile services in the country. The Company was awarded a 15-year license in February 2000 for this purpose, with an open tender bid price of US$47.5 million. The project would help meet the need for better telecommunications services in Jamaica through the promotion of competition in the domestic market. Currently, the market is serviced by two operators, Cable and Wireless Jamaica (CWJ) and the Company. Since CWJ entered the market in 1986 with the privatization of the state-controlled telephone company, it had enjoyed exclusive operating rights in both fixed and mobile services until April 2001. The introduction of competition has lowered tariffs, improved the quality of service and customer responsiveness, and expanded access to telecommunication services to a broader segment of the Jamaican population. IFC''s direct investment and the resultant competition have thereby helped raise the country''s mobile penetration rate from 6.5% in June 2000 to over 15% by October 2001. IFC’s direct investment in the expansion of this network would help the emerging competitive market to develop further by (1) increasing telecommunications usage nation-wide, (2) improving the efficiency of the business sector, and (3) increasing the connections between Jamaica and the global community. Finally, the investment would also provide a demonstration effect by showing other governments in the region that the liberalization of their telecommunications sectors will benefit their populations, and could be followed by international capital inflows.