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When my wife and I decided to celebrate the millenium there, the first thing to strike me about Jamaica was the amount of people that owned a cellphone ? and this was nearly a decade ago!
Despite living in what most of us would deem to be abject poverty, a mobile device was and is a ?must have? for most people living there. The same is mirrored in the rest of the developing world, with cellphone penetration often rivalling or even outstripping those of more developed countries.
Jamaica has a modern, fully liberalized telecoms system, which has seen phenomenal expansion in recent years. Former monopoly full-service provider, Cable and Wireless Jamaica Ltd (CWJ) now faces competition from Digicel and Oceanic Digital.
As for online, according to InternetWorldStats.com, a surprising 39.4% - or just over a million - of its 2.7m inhabitants are already surfing the fixed line internet, with no doubt many others surfing the mobile one with said cells.
ECommerce is of growing significance. For some local companies (particularly utilities) there is the option to pay bills on-line or via credit card using a telephone. Many Jamaicans who possess a credit card denominated in hard currency (U.S. dollars) frequently make on-line purchases from U.S. and other overseas companies.
So, when selling to Jamaicans, be sure to include both credit card and phone billing as part of your processing amoury.:winkwink:
As for language, no translation is needed since English remains the official language there.:)
Tourism remains Jamaica?s leading foreign exhange earner and is set to benefit from more than 18,000 additional hotel rooms, which will be developed from multi-billion dollar projects to be undertaken over the next five years.
A future venue for one of our conferences maybe? If so, see you there!:rasta
