|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
DIGICEL MAKES PACIFIC SPLASH
Digicel Pacific is expected to move quickly into other Pacific Islands countries.
Dev Nadkarni
Cellular services provider—Digicel Pacific—has made its long awaited splash into the Pacific Islands region market with the acquisition of Telecom Samoa, Samoa’s sole mobile telephone services provider, last month.
The company acquired Telecom New Zealand’s entire ninety percent shareholding in Telecom Samoa.
The government of Samoa continues to hold the remaining 10 percent through its wholly owned company, Computer Services Limited (CSL).
The new entity, Digicel Samoa, will launch mobile phone services based on advanced GSM (Global System for Mobiles) network some time in October, replacing the existing outdated Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) network.
This necessitates changing handsets and the approximately 30,000 subscribers of Telecom Samoa will be offered an easy transfer from their old handsets to new ones.
The new GSM network will comprise 40 cell sites across Samoa’s two main islands of Upolu and Savai’i and is expected to cover 80 percent of the population.
Greater geographical coverage will bring access to the mobile phone network to more of Samoa’s 180,000 resident population.
Digicel Pacific brings with it the know-how and experience its sister company Digicel Limited has acquired in the Caribbean region where it is involved in 20 markets.
Going by its track record of entering new markets where communication needs are under-served as was the case in the Caribbean countries, Digicel Pacific is expected to move quickly into other Pacific Islands countries.
Digicel Pacific chairman, Denis O’Brien hinted at this in a media statement shortly after the announcement of the company’s acquisition of Telecom Samoa: “This is an exciting new development in the growth of Digicel in the Pacific region.
“Our aim is to place the entire Pan-Pacific region at the cutting edge of wireless technology by delivering superior technology and being passionate about providing the best mobile phone service to customers.”
In addition to Samoa, Digicel Pacific has been awarded a GSM licence from the PNG Government.
It also has been granted an in-principle licence from the Fiji Government in April 2006, as well as an experimental licence in the Solomon Islands.
Industry observers say the company is also eyeing Tonga’s Tonfon, especially after the newly crowned King Tupou V’s announcement he would dispose of his private investments (which would include his stake in Tonfon).
Digicel Pacific, however, declined to confirm this to ISLANDS BUSINESS. It is understood Digicel Pacific is eyeing Kiribati and Nauru.
Speaking with ISLANDS BUSINESS in Apia, Digicel Pacific’s general manager Vanessa Slowey said the company was looking at a 24 to 30-month timeframe in rolling out a ‘Pan-Pacific’ network based on GSM technology.
“This would enable Pacific islanders to have seamless roaming services with not just Australia and New Zealand but also the United States and Europe, besides other Pacific Islands states,” she added.
According to Slowey, a range of services would also be available to users besides just voice and text.
But she declined to give details ahead of the formal October launch in Samoa.
On the cost of these services, she said Digicel aims to take mobile services to the maximum number of people in any country and that strategy was based on affordable pricing structures.
Recognising the subtly different needs of individual islands markets, Slowey emphasises that Digicel does not follow a one-size-fits-all approach and will address local needs while factoring in regional and global integration.
In all the markets that it operates, Digicel employs local talent, investing in training and the efficient transfer of skills to build local capacity in technical, marketing and customer service functions.
“Ninety-five percent of our 2000 staff in the Caribbean are of local origin, and the same will be the case with Samoa and the rest of the Pacific,” she says.
David Borrill, Samoa Telecom’s former general manager, has been appointed Digicel Pacific’s country manager for Samoa.
Islands Business, October 2006
|
|
|
|
|
|
