Having enjoyed more than 100 years of monopoly status in Barbados, Cable &?Wireless is warning companies against complacency when they control the market.
Cable & Wireless, which trades as LIME, has been battling stiff competition from telecommunications providers since the market was liberalized in the late 1990s.
The managing director of the Barbados operations, Alex McDonald, has suggested that Cable & Wireless’ monopoly status might have contributed to the slow pace of development within the local telecommunications sector.
“I think it is in everybody’s interest to have better quality service, better pricing and more things to offer customers, and what competition tends to do is to drive those things . . . ,” he said.
“It is a signal warning for all companies that are in a competitive environment to keep on keeping on, and those who still enjoy a monopoly will do well to learn the lessons of a former monopoly as it moves itself forward in a way that we could not have done in the past.”
McDonald was responding to a question from BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY during a recent news conference at the company’s Wildey, St Michael offices. During the briefing, McDonald announced that the company was investing $100 million in the expansion and development of its fibre-optic network.
He said the investment formed part of the company’s plan to meet the competition head-on.
LIME is expected to cover 70 per cent of households and businesses across the island when it completes the rolling out of its fibre-to-the-home network over the next 18 months. The aim is to provide faster Internet speed, competitive rates and fewer faults.
There are now three major players in the telecommunications sector here. The other two are Digicel, which came to Barbados nine years ago, and the newest entrant to the market, Columbus International. They all offer a range of information and communication technology services.
Asked about the company’s outlook regarding the competition, McDonald said: “We are well suited and well geared up to compete. The chains of a monopoly tend to hold you back a bit because there is no reason to actually drive you forward [but] competition adds a flavour, or as I would say, a squeeze of lime to it.”
