Why Digicel and FLOW Jamaica selling unlocking smartphones as Huawei and Xiaomi coming in 2016

“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 7^th 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 22^nd 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!