Jamaican Government Imposes Levy on Incoming International Calls

The Jamaican government has imposed a levy on incoming international calls, from which it expects to earn one billion Jamaican dollars to facilitate the creation of a Universal Service Fund to finance the implementation of the national e-learning project.

The levy, which becomes effective on June 1, will have all telecommunications carriers pay $0.03 per minute on all incoming international calls terminating on the fixed wired networks, and US$0.02 on all incoming international calls terminating on the cellular networks.

"After months of negotiations and consultations with the telecommunications industry, Cabinet has approved Jamaica´s first universal service program, which is designed to significantly increase the population´s access to data services and the Internet," Minister of Commerce, Science and Technology, Phillip Paulwell said.

He emphasized that the levy would not be a charge on the Jamaican consumer, as it would only be applied to incoming international calls.