“Just to say that the phones are being sold cheaply,
and there are some inherent subsidy will not for me suffice. I believe that in
keeping with the spirit of portability, the providers ought not to be
continuing to lock their devices once the consumer has purchased outrightly, of
whatever price, the phone”
Minister of
Science, Technology, Energy and Mining Philip Paulwell making the announcement
relating to unlocked smartphones
Looks like the Telecom Provider have caved under
public pressure as it relates to unlocked Smartphones!
As of Thursday January 7th 2016, all
smartphones being sold by both Digicel and FLOW Jamaica will be unlocked as
reported in the article “No
More Locked Cellphones... Paulwell foresees additional investment in mobile
phone business”, published Thursday January 7, 2016 by Jerome Reynolds, The Jamaica Gleaner.
Simply put, you can go to any of the two (2) Telecom Providers and purchase a smartphone completely unlocked. Apparently the Telecom
Providers have decided to do this without the need for Minister Paulwell to
implement any new legislation stipulating that smartphones need to be unlocked,
albeit he might still have to eventually!
Best of all, the process will be monitored to make
sure that the Telecom Provider are genuinely doing as they claim, to quote
Minister Paulwell: “I have asked the team [the committee set up to introduce
number portability] to monitor whether or not the locking is taking place
because then we'll have to, by policy, instruct that it be discharged as a
measure by the companies. My position is that the customers ought to be free to
move with not only their numbers but also their instructions, unless there is a
contractual arrangement that the customer has signed”
So why is it necessary to have unlocked smartphones?
Digicel
and LIME to sell unlocked smartphones - Why unlocked smartphone need to make
MNP mainstream
This is something I've been argueing was necessary
to boost MNP (Mobile Number Portability).
Unlocked Smartphone have to be a part of the MNP
push as since its introduction to Jamaica on Monday June 22nd 2015 as explained
in my blog
article entitled “MNP
and LNP delayed to Monday June 22nd 2015 - Technical Problem is Customer
Knowledge, Misdmatched Demographics and no Unlocked Quad-Band smartphones”
adoption has been very slow!
Also not many Jamaican have a quad-band smartphone
but have a dual-band phone, being as these smartphones are expensive, with many
resorting to relatives sending them down via a Barrel. This makes MNP only
accessible to Jamaicans, most likely Millennials, either willing to buy a new
smartphone, unlocked their smartphone or already possessing a quad-band
smartphone.
The typical Generation X (ages 29 to 45) and
older with many other responsibilities
may not have the financial power to merely purchase an unlocked Smartphone just
to take advantage of MNP as described in my blog article
entitled “Jamaica
Number Portability 2 months on - How to Port your number as All Good Customer
go to Heaven in 90 Days”.
This means that although some 50,000 Jamaicans had
accessed the Number portability facility as touted by Minister Paulwell as
noted in the article “50,000
Mobile Customers Switch Networks In Six Months”, published Tuesday December
29, 2015, The Jamaica Gleaner most of
them are probably Millennials, as most Generation X (ages 29 to 45) and older
are simply not able.
Minister Paulwell himself had also requested that
the Telecom Provider provide the option to have their
smartphones unlocked, but they had refused, citing the loss of
control over the customer’s ability to switch networks as noted in my blog article
entitled “How
Jamaican can access MNP and LNP by Monday June 1st 2015 – Windfall for Jamaican
smartphone unlockers as Quad-Band smartphones and Carrier-Free SIM Cards
Required”.
So what happened to change their minds?
MNP
is to encourage new entrants in Jamaica - Unlocked smartphones needed not
Subsidies and cheaper smartphones
With only 50,000 Jamaican taking advantage of MNP
after six (6) months, something has to be done to increase the number of
persons switching.
MNP was introduced on Monday June 22nd 2015
as noted in my blog
article entitled “Number
Portability now possible in Jamaica - How the NPA creates efficient Number
Range Management as Third Telecom Provider Coming”.
Part of the reason MNP was being offered to customer
was to make it easier for a Third Telecom Provider to come to Jamaica and set
up their Telecom Network, especially VoIP and MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network
Operators) as noted in my blog article
entitled “@TheOURja
MVNO Licenses – How Telecom Providers benefit and Why MVNO are a source of Product
Innovation”.
By having MNP and LNP, a competing Telecom Provider
would not have to worry about having inadequate number of phone numbers; MNP
and LNP would make it easy to start with a few exchange codes and expand simply
by porting customers away from the competition.
It also makes it easier for the OUR to get an additional
Area Code to double the number of exchange codes and thus the number ranges
available to any new Telecom Provider wishing to set up business in Jamaica as
noted in my blog
article entitled “OUR
applies for new Area Code for Jamaica - Competition in Telecoms in the coming
Hunger Games Catching Fire of Mobile Computing”.
As Minister Paulwell pointed out, cheaper phones
isn't the real reason for MNP, but making it easier for other Telecom Providers
to come to Jamaica. Ownership of a Smartphone should mean that you can do what
you wish with the smartphone, quote: “Just to say that the phones are being
sold cheaply, and there are some inherent subsidy will not for me suffice. I
believe that in keeping with the spirit of portability, the providers ought not
to be continuing to lock their devices once the consumer has purchased
outrightly, of whatever price, the phone”.
Good to note too that Jamaican customers are taking
advantage of MNP; LNP is yet to be implemented to allow Generation X (ages 29
to 45) and older who have landlines to also port their numbers to any network
of their choosing. Thus making smartphones unlocked would make it easier for
this segment of the Jamaican population to port their landline numbers to a
smartphone.
Competition
from Unlocked smartphones - Huawei and Xiaomi to unlock Jamaica in 2016
But another reason which may have made the decision
easy for Telecom Providers without the need for legislation is coming
competition from provider of unlocked smartphones.
Huawei and Lasco Jamaica had teamed up in September
2015 to sell unlocked smartphones as noted in my blog article
entitled “Huawei
and Lasco to sell Unlocked dual-SIM smartphones - Why Number Portability means
Open Market for unlocked smartphone”.
Also Miami-based phone-maker Blu Products has been
selling a lot of Dual-SIM Smartphones in Jamaica, disrupting the sales of
Smartphone by Digicel and FLOW Jamaica.
With such models as the US$179 Blu Studio Energy 2
and US$109 Blu Energy X as noted in my blog article
entitled “How
US$179 Blu Studio Energy 2 and US$109 Blu Energy X is bringing Dual-SIM Energy”.
The Telecom Providers are facing a trending towards Dual-SIM
smartphones that they cannot control.
So by making smartphones unlocked, they are making
it possible for Jamaicans to choose to purchase their Smartphone, rather than
purchase an unlocked smartphone from these steadily rising competitors.
I say “steadily rising” as Xiaomi is slated to come
to the US of A and eventually the Caribbean and Latin America as noted in my blog article
entitled “How
Huawei 100 million sale in 2015 means Honor to challenge Xiaomi in America in
2016”.
Huawei may have discovered that Americans like their
all high-end metal smartphones such as the Huawei Mate 8, but they cannot beat
the competitive price point of Xiaomi, whose smartphones are of a higher build
quality for much lower prices.
If Xiaomi were to come to Jamaica and distribute
smartphones, they'd create bigger problems for the Telecom Providers. Thus by
making this move to offer unlocked smartphones, Digicel and LIME may be
anticipating the coming of Xiaomi and Huawei to flood Jamaica with low-cost
high quality unlocked smartphones in 2016, the Year of the Monkey!
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