Lavern Clarke, Business Editor

Green

Cable and Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ), as well as its wider regional operations, will be entering the market for subscriber television (STV) and the delivery of content, a plan that will pitch it directly against Columbus Communi-cations, parent company to Flow, but also positions the telecoms as a 'true' full-service operation.

On Friday, Phil Green, who is both president of C&WJ and the lead man for the British telecoms in the Caribbean, laid out a big plan for C&WJ to build out a whole new regional operation that gives it autonomy from its United Kingdom (UK) parent.

"TV and content is an integral part of our 'telco' strategy," Green said Friday during the press conference that was telecast between Jamaica and Barbados.

The C&WJ executive all but confirmed that C&WJ would be going after an STV licence.

The Jamaican Government is said to be in the process of reviewing the existing structure and is expected to announce a plan to seek new applicants.

But ahead of that announcement, Green said "It would not be appropriate for me to comment" on his plan to seek an STV licence.

That market is currently dominated by Flow Jamaica, which is funnelling billions of dollars per year into the rollout of its triple-play network - voice, Internet and cable - and has built up its customer base by snapping up smaller cable operators. Flow said last year that it would invest $5 billion - $7 billion annually until about 2010, to lock in that market.

regional autonomy

C&WJ's new 'pan-Caribbean telecommunication business model' gives the regional operation autonomy from its UK parent, placing both operational control and governance in the hands of a regional team led by Green, who is based in Kingston.

His second in command, Richard Dodd, the CEO of Cable and Wireless Caribbean, will be seated in Barbados.

The five-year programme rollout is likely to begin in three months, and is estimated to cost upwards of US$140 million (J$10 billion) per year to execute, Green later told The Sunday Gleaner.

The plan envisages C&W Caribbean rolling out 'full services' in all its regional markets, but will not disrupt the local management structures in place in each regional market.

The telecoms, however, will be sharing platforms and integrating certain services and back-office operations to reposition as a regional entity.

The aim, Green said, is to become a true Caribbean company, positioned among the top five in the region, using as benchmark the First-Caribbean International Bank model and others in the financial services sector.

The new C&WJ operation will have a 'board of governance' on which Green told The Sunday Gleaner, he was in the process of inviting 'non-Cable and Wireless' members to sit.

Green will chair the board and Dodd will also have a seat, but the C&WJ executive refused to divulge further details on the membership mix.

Green also acknowledged that the plan would result in job cuts, saying the exact numbers would evolve as the plans were executed. He also announced the creation of about three 'schools of excellence' to develop talent in several areas that C&WJ will be setting up across the region.

business@gleanerjm.com