Telecom Providers and The Rise of E-Commerce

So nigh grandeur to our dust,

So near to God is man,

When Duty whispers low, Thou must

The youth replies, I can

Emerson, from his writings entitled “Voluntaries”

Prospects for a swift economic recovery are looking brighter and brighter. German automakers are reportedly back in production, producing new high-end SUV (Sports Utility Vehicles) for the People’s Republic of China, where the insatiable demand for these gas-guzzlers is suddenly picking up, albeit fears exists as to whether it is a return to “good times” or just a short term recovery as suggested in the “DW-TV Journal”, aired Friday July 12 2010 5:00AM Television Jamaica Limited (http://www.televisionjamaica.com). Other signs can now be seen that are definitive in terms of new business opportunities for Internet not just in terms of Apple iPhones, Apple iPads and other wonderful gadgets from the Magical World of Apple, but also in terms of good old fashioned Internet Commerce, or e-Commerce, an ode to the heyday of the 90’s and the Dot.com Bubble that gobble up many a VC’s (Venture Capitalist) money and littered the Internet with websites than nobody visited. This resurgence of e-Commerce is curiously enough, occurring in places where the Internet Penetration has exceeded 50%, after initially being below this figure as is the case with Jamaica in the article “Most J'cans still not online”, published Saturday, September 2 2006, the Saturday Gleaner, (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com).

Indeed, people are now beginning to see internet as a necessity based on a recently commissioned BBC poll in which 78% of the participants emphatically declared that they believe that access to broadband internet should be a fundamental right, as suggested in the article “BBC survey: Net access is basic right”, published March 8, 2010 8:04 AM PST by Andrew Nusca, CNET News – Digital Media. It is now the case in Finland, where broadband is now officially a right, every resident having the right to a minimum of a 1 MBps broadband access into their houses, putting this “right” in the same category as utilities such as light, water and sewage as stated in the article “You gotta fight for your right to broadband”, published Thursday June 1 2010 by Christopher Null, Technology Writer, Yahoo! News (http://www.news.yahoo.com) with an eventual plan to raise that allotted amount to 100 Mbps, easily achievable in Finland, a sedated Nordic society where everyone lives indoors most or the time, eat bland food and are taken care of by the state from cradle to grave. Comparatively only 40% of citizens of the United States of America are connected to broadband, based on a National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) funded study conducted by the Census Bureau, as stated in the article “Survey: 40 percent in US have no broadband”, published February 16, 2010 10:11 AM PST by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Wireless (http://www.cnet.com), FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Chairman Julius Genachowski has made his intention clear that he intends to increase both Wired and Wireless Broadband Penetration across the length and breadth of the United States of America as stated in the article “FCC chairman wants faster broadband”, published February 17, 2010 10:05 AM PST by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Politics and Law, (http://www.cnet.com) with the aim also being 100 Mbps for every American as stated in the article “100Mbps broadband may be closer than you think”, published March 8, 2010 4:00 AM PST, by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength, (http://www.cnet.com).

In the Developed World, such as where John Public calls home, CLARO has come to save the day with their 3G Internet since September 2008, albeit their service is not being promoted on radio and television. LIME is just as bad, having launched in 2008 but only now just reaching Montego Bay as stated in the article “LIME to build $40m 3G Netwo for Montego Bay”, published Sunday June 27, 2010, by Janeta Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer, janet.silvera@gleanerjm.com, The Sunday Gleaner, (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com) and Digicel, which had promised WiMax 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) in 2009 as stated in the article “Digicel to offer mini laptops with 4G service next year”, published Friday September 4^th 2009 by Lavern Clarke, lavern.clarke@gleanerjm.com,The Daily Gleaner, (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com), with ZTE Corp of China as their build out partner of their new WiMax 4G Mobile (IEEE 802.16d) Broadband Network as stated in the article “DIGICEL SIGNS ZTE AS 4G MOBILE WIMAX INTERNET PARTNER”, published Sunday, September 27, 2009, The Jamaica Observer, (http://www.jamaicaobserver.com), is now delivering, albeit now one (1) week behind schedule and now looking set to miss the deadline altogether, only achieving launch in August 2010 as stated in the article “Digicel quietly testing 4G for August launch”, published Sunday June 27^th 2010 by Mark Titus, Gleaner Reporter, mark.titus@gleanerjm.com, The Jamaica Sunday Gleaner, (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com), with the possibility to use it as a means of delivering DigiTV as stated in the article “DigiTV' launch for 2009 - Mobile provider branches into TV”, published Friday November 14^th 2009 by Ross Sheil, rsheil@jamaicaobserver.com,  Online Co-ordinator, The Jamaica Observer, (http://www.jamaicaobserver.com).

Thus the rise of e-Commerce in the Middle East as stated in the article “Online Advertising Spending surges in the Middel East”, published June 3, 2010, 11:00AM EST By Alaa Shahine and Massoud A. Derhally, BloomBerg BusinessWeek - ADVERTISING (http://www.businessweek.com) and Jamaica as stated in the article “E-shopping growth bosts business for customers”, published Friday June 25th 2010 by Avia Collinder, Business Writer, The Financial Gleaner, (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/efg) should not come as a surprise, as the same level of Telecommunication Development that is taking place in Jamaica is taking place worldwide as stated in the article “On call: Welcome to 4G”, published March 9, 2010 11:01 AM PST by Kent German CNET News – Dialed In (http://www.cnet.com), with broadband access prices falling as stated in the article “Mobile, broadband prices dropping worldwide”, published February 24, 2010 9:43 AM PST by Lance Whitney CNET News - Digital Media (http://www.cnet.com) and usage of wireless Broadband beginning to mimic Wired Broadband as stated in the article “Can 4G wireless take on traditional broadband?”", published March 22, 2010 4:00 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - CTIA 2010 (http://www.cnet.com), all of which bodes well for the expansion of internet usage globally in the Summer of 2010.

Finland has Access to Broadband as a Right. The United States of America has plans under the FCC to reach a similar status in the next ten (10). Jamaica apparently has no concrete Energy Sector Liberalization Plan other than catching the religion of LNG (Liquid Natural Gas), which though correct and will actually save us the 25% to 30% on our Electricity Bills as stated in the article “Gov’t eyes LNG cure for energy problems”, published Wednesday June 16 2010 by Laura Redpath, Senior Staff Writer, the Jamaica Gleaner, laura.redpath@gleanerjm.com (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com), is not true Energy Diversification and Research needed to achieve Energy Sector Liberalization as stated in the article “LNG drama raises more questions than answers”, published Sunday, June 27, 2010 BY AL EDWARDS, The Jamaica Observer, (http://www.jamaicaobserver.com) from Senator James Robertson, Minister of Energy and Mining to make such an incomplete declaration, and would explain in part the insistence of Senator Phillip Paulwell, Opposition Spokespersons on Telecoms and ICT on details of this plan as stated in the article “Government, Opposition wrangle over Energy”,  published Saturday  April 3, 2010, the Jamaica Gleaner,  (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com), despite a copy existing on the Ministry of Energy and Mining website, which is vague. Even worse is Water Sector Liberalization, with no plans or announcements from Senator Dr. Horace Chang, Minister of Water and Housing. Thus it is no surprise that we do not have a broad policy on Broadband Liberalization and enshrining it as a Right, as is the case in Finland, the excuse of being a Third World Country now sounding like a broken record. Worse with a stalled MNP (Mobile Number Portability) ruling overdue from the OUR (Office of Utilities Regulation) as stated in the article "Paulwell calls for number portability", published, Wednesday April 21, 2010, Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter, The Jamaica Gleaner (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com) which should have been released in June 2010 and previously stated to be necessary as we are running out of phone numbers, down to one million (1,000,000) from nearly eight million (8,000,000) as stated in the article “OUR signals policy shift on portability - Says Jamaica running out of phone numbers”, published Friday November 20, 2009 by Mark Titus, Business Reporter, mark.titus@gleanerjm.com, The Friday Gleaner (http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com), one is left to wonder if the Telecom Sector will ever be fair to customers, despite recent declarations by the OUR stating that lower cross network rates are coming as stated in the article “Digicel loses appeal, call rates could fall”, published Wednesday, June 02, 2010, The Jamaica Observer - Business (http://www.JamaicaObserver.com). All of these things are necessary to growth and must be executed properly, or the JDX (Jamaica Debt Exchange) declared as successful in the article “JDX Ends at 99 per cent; Minister says thanks”, published Thursday, February 25, 2010, The Jamaica Observer (https://www.jamaicaobserver.com) would have been in vain and their would be no Happy Ending by 2015, when Oil is expected to Peak. Duty Calls……..