The minister pointed out, for example, that cell phones now have an 82 per cent penetration rate, while the internet stood at 10 per cent.  In fact, he noted that while Jamaica led the hemisphere in mobile phone penetration, internet penetration lagged behind that of other dynamic markets such as in Asia.

Since the government's liberalisation process in 2000, growth in cellular mobile subscribers increased from approximately 300,000 subscribers to nearly two million today.  Mobile penetration in Jamaica exceeds that of the rest of the Caribbean and even North America, with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) world telecommunications index for 2005 indicating a mobile penetration rate of 82.2 per cent, according to the technology minister.

"One of the challenges we have put to the private sector is to see the computer as you now see the telephone instrument.  At one time the price of the cell phone was too high for the average person, now it is part of a package of services," Paulwell said.Added Paulwell: "We believe we are some distance away from bridging this digital divide because so many of our people are without computers."

He was making a presentation at the launch of the World Telecommunication Day Symposium and exhibition at the Hilton Hotel in Kingston on Wednesday.

The recent introduction of fibre optic and wireless broadband technology to the island, Paulwell said, would greatly enhance Jamaica's telecommunications capacity.  But he argued that without access to computers, the facility would never be maximised.

"I am proposing that we, as providers, and the private sector now look at how we are going to expand this market from 10 per cent internet access to over 40 per cent, by increasing the population of computers," Paulwell remarked.

"It is one thing to have broad band but unless your people have access to enable that broad band to work then it won't materialise," he added.

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