Newly appointed Head of Digicel’s marketing operations in Guyana Donovan White has refuted what he described as suggestions that the company’s business interests in the region are short term and that it is simply seeking a “quick score.”
“The level of commitment that we have made to the Caribbean and to the wider region is not indicative of that position. We are fully committed to continue serving the people of this region by providing affordable mobile communication to people of all walks of life in the region,” White told Stabroek Business.
Digicel has established cellular networks in twenty three Caribbean territories and according to White the company sees the return on its investment materializing “way past ten to fifteen years from the present time.”
White told Stabroek Business that evidence of Digicel’s commitment to the region was to be seen not only in the provision of modern telecommunications facilities but also in its investment in other important aspects of Caribbean development.
Citing the company’s sponsorship of West Indies cricket as an example of its long term commitment to the region White said that the company sees its role as a developmental one. “At this point in time we are not worried about the performance of the West Indies cricket team because if the truth be told our thinking is along the lines of the next ten years or so when the next generation of our cricketers would have come along.”
According to White Digicel’s commitment to Guyana was a multi-faceted one which began with the 160 Guyanese employed locally by the company. He also noted that over its one year of operations in Guyana Digicel had contributed more than $2m to the national HIV/AIDS programme.
Noting that the economic circumstances were different to those in other parts of the Caribbean White cited the company’s ‘per second billing’ as a development designed specifically to meet the needs of the local population. “What we are most proud of in terms of our operations in Guyana is the fact that we have been able to bring down the rates of mobile telecommunication here,” White said.
White told Stabroek Business that Digicel’s operations in the region reflected a convergence between understanding the social setting in the various territories and blending the company’s business model to fit the social setting. He noted that in parts of Haiti where no regular electricity supply was available the company had provided solar power tools to allow cellular service users to acquire those tools to charge their phones.
“When you look at the way in which our operations have been run in countries like Haiti and in Guyana you begin to understand that there really is a convergence between business and a social conscience in the Digicel operations,” White said.
White who assumed duty as Head of Marketing for Digicel’s Guyana operations six weeks ago told Stabroek Business that the local company was still in the process of preparing its strategic plan for the current year. He said, however, that during the current year the company intended to demonstrate a continued commitment to the country’s HIV/AIDS programme and to the development of sports. He added that this year the expansion and further qualitative improvement of the Digicel network would take particular account of the need to support the remote areas of Guyana that have relatively large populations..”We are concerned about the need to enhance the communication capacity of those areas in order to create economic wealth and growth,” White said.
The Jamaican-born White told Stabroek Business that Digicel had made a major contribution to breaking telecommunications monopolies in the Caribbean which had, over the past ten years, resulted in a significant reduction in rates. He noted that the ensuing competition arising out of the breaking of monopolies had also resulted in increased job creation in the various territories. “When you consider what liberalisation in the telecommunications sector has done for the Caribbean, it makes a case for governments in the region to take a serious look other sectors that are not liberalised,” White added.