Oceanic Jamaica, formerly controlled by Centennial, employs the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) network to operate its services. Centennial acquired the cellular licence from the Jamaican Government in 2001 for US$45 million. Last year Oceanic, a United States-based company, acquired a 100 per cent interest in Centennial Digital Jamaica's operations.

The loan is the first of its kind in Jamaica from the nine-year-old IDB private sector department established in 1994, to lend directly to the private sector without government sovereign guarantees.

Speaking to The Gleaner last night, Craig McBurnett, CEO of Oceanic Digital (Jamaica), said: "This new loan now means we can fully concentrate on rolling out our islandwide network. It is now full steam ahead. The network will be completed in phases and we should finish the Montego Bay phase by Christmas."

He revealed that the loan is for a 10-year period and will officially close in January of next year.

"We currently have 70,000 customers and hope to double that by this time next year. We will continue to market the MiPhone brand and will offer good quality plans. We intend to be the low price leaders in the Jamaican cellular market," McBurnett said.

Oceanic's initial investment in Jamaica was about US$130 million. Since entering the Jamaican cellular market, it has used the strategy of slashing its international call prices particularly over the holiday periods to attract new customers. In January this year, it reduced local calls from $7.00 to $4.00 per minute with its competitors then charging $10 a minute.

Oceanic is preparing to launch a new package plan which sees local call rates at 99 cents per minute for 90 days providing a customer forms a bundle consisting of familiy and friends who are contacted on a regular basis. The service only applies to those familiar numbers in the bundle.

NEW LOAN

"This new loan will assist with our continued infrastructure improvements, help us to offer new products and services and to offer high speed data products. It will also help to fund our operating budget to ensure that the company is profitable," said Mr. McBurnett.

In response to the Wednesday Business article, "Oceanic Changes Billing Method," Oceanic Digital Jamaica sought to inform its customers of the reason behind the billing change.

The company insists that the change from a per second billing to per minute billing is not a rate increase. The company states that "by adopting the same landline to mobile phone per minute billing method already in use by its competitors, Oceanic Digital Jamaica is taking one more step towards simplifying the purchase of cellular services in Jamaica."

http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20031212/business/business2.html