The OUR has disclosed that of all the licensees, GOTEL is the only fixed-line operator that has rolled out services, with a reported initial investment of $2.5 billion in establishing its network.

And it is still not clear when the other providers which have been granted licences will start, according to David Geddes, director of consumer and public affairs at the OUR.

He told the Financial Gleaner that the licenses were awarded but, "there was no timetable set within the licence for them to roll out their services".

Despite GOTEL's bold step into the fray some three years ago by offering services, the company is yet to make a serious dent on the fixed-line marketplace where Cable and Wireless remains the dominant player.

GOTEL's growth has reportedly been stymied by network problems, specifically inadequate bandwidth and the move by Cable and Wireless last year to increase its fees for that company to terminate calls within the Cable and Wireless network.

In late 2004, Cable and Wireless raised by 30 per cent, the fees to terminate GOTEL's calls on its network in what Cable & Wireless had reported at the time was its response to GOTEL's significant increase in the fees to terminate calls on its network.

"GOTEL has not been able to challenge the dominance of Cable and Wireless in the fixed-line marketplace," Geddes said, adding that the impact on the fixed-line sector which comprises nearly half a million customers, has been negligible."

Conservative estimates put the company's market share as low as one per cent.  Several attempts for an interview with officials at GOTEL proved futile, but it is reported that the company is to reassess its operations.

Mr. Geddes noted that GOTEL like any other company that is facing challenges would be evaluating its position for enhanced competitiveness.

And perhaps the other holders of fixed line licences are also looking at this trend.  Since 2000 the number of landlines in the island has steadily declined, while there has been phenomenal growth in the number of mobile phones in service.

According to figures supplied by the OUR, between 1999 and 2003, there has been an average 10 per cent decline in the number of fixed line customers in Jamaica, while there has been a 10-fold increase in the number of mobile customers.  "In 1999, there were 499,646 landlines in Jamaica; in 2000 there were 493,523; in 2001 that had increased to 511,302 but later fell to 432,772.  In 2003 the number of fixed lines in Jamaica stood at 460,000," Mr. Geddes stated.

According to a recent press report last year, fixed line services reportedly fell by 10 per cent while revenues for the service declined by $1.6 billion.

On the other hand, Mr. Geddes pointed out that the figures for mobile services indicated that in 1999 there were 117,861 mobile customers in Jamaica and by 2003 the figure had skyrocketed to 1.5 million.

Digicel, Centennial (Oceanic Digital/Miphone), and AT&T, which is yet to roll out its service, received mobile licences auctioned by the Government of Jamaica as part of its liberalisation exercise.  Prior to that, Cable and Wireless was the sole provider of mobile services in the island.

Digicel, since its arrival in the marketplace in 2001 has seriously challenged and some say surpassed Cable and Wireless as the premier provider of mobile services in Jamaica.  Digicel reportedly made an initial investment of J$8 billion while C&W reportedly spent over $16 billion upgrading its mobile network between 1999 and 2003.

Digicel which is now operating in nine Caribbean countries said it has invested over US$600 million in its mobile system across the Caribbean region to date, noting that in excess of US$450 million has been invested in Jamaica.

"In 2004, Digicel grew its customer base by 33 per cent, increasing its overall subscriber numbers in excess of 1.3 million," Heather Shields, head of marketing at Digicel noted.

In the same vein, last year Cable and Wireless spent some $800 million upgrading its GSM network to widen its coverage and in-building coverage for customer, a source at the company said.  Data on the company's investment in landlines, which is said to be significantly higher than that for mobile, were not available.

Oceanic Digital marketers of the Miphone brand, reportedly has some 100,000 subscribers and recently unveiled its MiCircle Plan which allows specified user groups unlimited talk time which has seen an increase in the number of subscribers.

"The international trend is that people are moving towards mobile services, because they can get every telecom service on the mobile network.  They can access the Internet, send e-mails and send text messages, including across networks and receive roaming services in over 100 countries," noted Geddes.

Geddes attributed the low interest in fixed lines to, "the high cost of investing in the fixed line network and the less than attractive returns compared to mobile services."  He said that people generally, "spend more minutes on their cell phones."

Digicel which also has a fixed line licence for Jamaica has not indicated when it will roll out this service locally.

Geddes also observed that one of the issues is that some consumers opt to use mobile phones rather than fixed lines for the convenience, and others for cost factors.

He said one factor was persons running up huge bills on their land lines and rather than clearing the arrears, they terminate the services and purchase a cellular phone.

A source at Cable and Wireless confirmed that they were witnessing cases of service discontinuation as a result of unpaid bills.  "Sometimes there are persons whose children run up high bills from calling mobile phones, especially pre-paid mobile, and rather than clearing the bills they allow the phone to be permanently disconnected," the source said.

To woo back some of those customers C&W launched its Home Phone ad campaign, and indications are that the company is to undertake further efforts to reclaim its market share in fixed-line services.

However, the C&W source and another expert in the field argued that there was a misconception in the marketplace that it was cheaper to have a mobile rather than a fixed line, adding that what was really needed was better management of fixed-lines services.

But what of the future of fixed line providers?  Geddes said he believed that there was no question whether they would continue to play a major role in the marketplace, noting that corporate clients in particular relied heavily on fixed line services for both data and voice transmission.

Some experts also see a positive future for existing fixed line providers, with these operations benefiting from the large number of cellular calls terminating on their network.