OneVoice Communications, led by Minnesota entrepreneur Todd Holcomb, has an ambitious goal—converting Jamaica into what the company describes as the “world’s first completely wireless-based nation.” As with many entrepreneurial dreams, the only thing that seems to be standing in the way of making the vision a reality is money.
Minneapolis-based OneVoice hopes to access the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System, an underwater broadband fiber- optic cable that connects the Americas and the Caribbean. That would eliminate the need to string cable through very difficult terrain, especially in the center of the island—the chief reason why the Net isn’t accessible to the entire country.
Holcomb announced in December that OneVoice was planning to have “50 to 100 [Internet] kiosks on the street by mid-year.” Each of these Net-access kiosks would incorporate OneVoice’s InterComm booth, which the company has described as a “hybridization” of an ATM, a phone booth, and an arcade game.
But according to OneVoice’s public relations agency, the company “is still working aggressively towards second-round funding so it can begin InterComm Booth production and rollout; the goal has always been to have the first InterComm prototype within four to six months of receiving second-round funding.”
If and when the network of kiosks is in place, OneVoice’s revenue strategy calls for collecting on a combination of service fees, products, and advertising. Get-ting those fees, however, may be something of a challenge. According to the CIA World Fact Book, almost 20 percent of Jamaicans live below the poverty level, and unemployment levels have consistently been in the double digits.
