Chief Executive Officer of Digicel (Guyana), Gregory Dean says the company is pleased with its progress so far after making an initial investment of US$60 million here.
Although he acknowledged that the returns have been positive, he declined to give exact figures. Friday’s press conference was held on the eve of the second anniversary of the company’s official launch in Guyana.
The CEO revealed that the company has approximately 250,000 subscribers based on persons who would have used their accounts within the last 30 days.
Meanwhile, Dean renewed calls for interconnectivity between the two local telephone networks saying that Digicel was waiting on GT&T to agree to this service, which he described as a service that Guyanese subscribers deserved. He also renewed calls for GT&T’s monopoly on international calls to be broken.
Dean said no significant review of rates would be undertaken soon although the company would like to influence the international call rates but added that this could be achieved if GT&T’s monopoly is broken. He, however, said that the phone company was looking at how it could improve its service to its customers and promised there will be more products and services offered in the future. “Product development is a key focus for the company,” he explained.
Explaining the company’s decision not to participate in this year’s Mashramani Float parade, the CEO explained that the company had wanted to do Mash differently this year and had elaborate plans which unfortunately fell through. He said that this was because plans started late and hence all the necessary work that needed to be done could not be accomplished.
Meanwhile, Dean also commented on the company’s attempt to reduce staff in the Caribbean. He explained that the process involving workers who would have opted for voluntary severance packages has been completed and said that Guyana was not severely affected by this process. Only three employees chose this path, he said.
Meanwhile, Digicel Guy-ana is currently in discussions with the government to work out final mechanisms concerning the manner in which calls will be intercepted following the enactment of the Interception of Telecommuni-cations Bill.
Dean told reporters that both Digicel and GT&T are in discussions with Dr Roger Luncheon “to work out what the final mechanism will be to provide interception and who will have responsibility for what.” He explained that currently Digicel does not have the necessary equipment to intercept calls and it may cost the company approximately US$1 million to acquire it.
The CEO said this was not something the telephone company was looking forward to but it was willing to cooperate with the government. The only other country where Digicel has had to implement such measures was in Jamaica, which has a similar piece of wiretap legislation in force, Dean stated.
The Interception of Telecommunication Bill was passed last October and allows for the tapping of communication transmitted on public and private systems. The Act is intended to aid police in tracking and identifying suspects and was formulated in response to the widespread use of mobile phones in major crimes recently.
