Don’t call U.S.
Bwoy, sometimes any way you turn, macca jook you! (Thorns stick you i.e. you are in a no-win situation)
Some time ago, Phillip Paulwell, the Minister of Technology, decided to embrace some foreign “investment” in the Jamaican I.T. sector, namely in setting up a number of call centres.
This he did, at great expense to the Jamaican purse! Then a couple of those companies that he set up folded, and there was a lot of concern expressed about the way these companies had been funded and also about whether they had been properly investigated before the Gov’t. gave them all the money that it did.
The Minister managed to slip out of that noose. He was a lucky man to do so, IMHO! 
Next, we see that a Bill known as the Do-Not-Call Telephone Listing is being piloted through Congress in the U.S. This Bill seeks to disallow telemarketers from calling a very large number of U.S. phones in an attempt to do their marketing.
Its easily understandable, after all, who wants to be called by telemarketers, am I right, especially during dinner or one’s favourite prime time show! It sounds like a great idea, and whatever size the listing is now, I am sure it will only grow.
The thing is, if this Bill is passed, it will have a major impact on the Jamaican call centre companies. 
You see, notwithstanding those fairly large hiccups early in the program, the Minister did manage to get some call centres into operation, and two thirds of the call centre seats are used for telemarketing! I am sure that this Bill could lead to the demise of telemarketing all together, over time!
Of course, the Bill would have to pass for all this chaos in the telemarketing industry to come about, and there is some uncertainty at this time whether that will happen, as two judges seem to have put a spoke in the wheel of those who are pushing the bill. Apparently they have ruled that the bill infringes on the telemarketers rights to free speech. We’ll just have to wait and see on this one.
It seems to me though that the Minister had better be thinking very hard about other more feasible areas within the Information Technology industry to target for development… 
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