Jamaica’s government is putting its fourth cellular licence up for tender. The successful applicant will be entitled to design a telecommunications network to launch a range of mobile services from March 1, 2003.

The ministry of industry, commerce and technology, which is responsible for the request for tender, is aiming at telecom operators from continental Europe and the UK. The deadline for offers was originally March 25 but this has been put forward to June 7.

“The primary reason is that the companies that are interested need more time to do their business plans and conduct the technical assessments. This involves sending teams down to Jamaica which increases the turnaround time. We always knew the original timeframes were aggressive but we were still hopeful,” said Julian Robinson, manager for IT and international business at Jamaica Promotions Organisation.

Mr Robinson added that he needed more marketing time to publicise the tender, mainly via direct mail and telephoning. The targeted market has responded well. Only one provider, European mobile communications conglomerate mm02, declined the offer to bid, citing “strategic reasons”.

The liberalisation of Jamaica’s cellular networks started in March 2000. The number of users has grown from 60,000 to 700,000 this year. Licences are held by Digicel (Ireland), which has acquired 280,000 customers in less than 12 months; Centennial (US); and Cable and Wireless (UK).