Finally, high speed internet hook-up via cable

JNAP partners with Entertainment Systems on pilot
BY CAMILO THAME thamec@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, August 28, 2005

HIGH speed internet access is to be brought into corporate area homes via cable, a plan long contemplated but only now getting to the point of delivery.

But, even now, the initial offer will be done under pilot, with the test cases to be households in a hilly section of St Andrew. Jamaica Network Access Point (JNAP), in a joint venture project with Entertainment Systems, will in October launch a pilot programme in Long Mountain, atop Beverly Hills, which will see some 100 homes being provided with the service.

"We have a pilot project with them (Entertainment Systems) and what we will be doing is providing bandwidth, that is, Internet service over the same cable that comes into the homes for television," said Mark Reid, chief operating officer for JNAP.

"As a wholesaler to ISPs, we will provide bandwidth, piped straight from JNAP over fibre or wireless to Entertainment Systems, and they will redeploy over coaxial." According to Reid, the time it will take to completely roll out services across the communities in the corporate area that the cable provider services, depends on the success of the pilot stage, which will begin once all the customer premises equipment are ready. "We are actually working on customer premises equipment, which entail the cable itself and the interface for the computer," Reid told the Observer. "The cable provider only had one-way transmission lines, but needed two-way. So, they have been replacing the lines in certain places." When asked the price for the service, Reid declined to give specifics, saying those details could not be released too early, but assured that both the speed and cost of the service would be competitive with other high speed service delivered on other platforms.

Multi-service Cable and Wireless, a long time Internet service provider, has just introduced a new rate schedule for broadband services, customers can pay as low as US$29.95 ($1,840) per month for 128 kbps and US$49.95 ($3,070) for 512 kbps, paying progressively higher with faster speeds. Emoquad, a relatively small player and ISP, has recently introduced wireless high speed connection in partnership with number three mobile service provider MiPhone. Its high speed cost is US$35 or $2,200 per month.

Said Reid of the JNAP/Entertainment Systems plan: "The service will be competitively priced against current high speed internet service providers and will have capability of downloading videos and music at fast rates." But that is what all high speed services are supposed to do, and Reid did not say whether "competitive" meant a price that was marginally above or below those already in the market.

According to Reid, a similar joint venture project is currently being worked on with one cable provider in Montego Bay, but declined to name the company.