Digicel and two other companies are getting ready to soak up a portion of the subscriber television market, after receiving an islandwide wireless subscriber television licence from the Broadcasting Commission this week.

The licence, which was announced Wednesday, was granted to its DigiTV brand - a joint venture between Digicel's Digital Interactive Services Limited, David Cassanova's DC Digital and Bernard Henry's FIMI Wireless.

The service is slated to be launched sometime next year.

Underwater fibre-optic cable system

The market is currently dominated by the telecommunications firm, Flow Jamaica, which provides digital cable among its main products. The company only this year invested US$80 million to develop its underwater fibre-optic cable system linking Morant Point to Columbia and Boca Raton in Florida. Since its two years in the market, the company has also managed to acquire the assets of several major cable companies in the Corporate Area, to ensure its dominance. Among the company's acquisitions was Entertainment Systems, which it bought in February.

Digicel says it will be delivering a host of popular local and international channels through its new service, channels which are now only offered by cable operators.

"Our approach for establishing wireless digital TV in Jamaica is simple and straightforward," Digicel Jamaica chief executive officer, Mark Linehan, told The Gleaner in an emailed response to its queries yesterday.

"We are building on the strengths and proven track records of our shareholders, involving a broad alliance of local retailers, content and service providers and offering a high-quality, innovative, value-for-money service to households all over the country. Our commitments to affordability, well-chosen content, accessibility and success are unambiguous," he added.

Venturing into new areas

He said the company would not predict what share of the market it would grasp in the short to medium term at this time, but said the company would be venturing into areas not currently served by existing cable operators.

"We've learnt not to make those kinds of predictions. When we launched mobile service back in 2001, we anticipated reaching the 100,000 customer plateau by the end of the first year of operations. Instead, we hit the 100,000 mark a mere 100 days after launch," he said.

Digicel already owns a majority share of the mobile phone market in Jamaica since its entry in 2001. Its one million customers account for 65 per cent of the market.