Oh how has the mighty monopoly fallen. Cable & Wireless, once the free reigning telecom monopoly in Jamaica and the Caribbean, is now the leading telecom discount king, that this week launched another range of bundled calling plans.
Since the deregulation of the industry in Jamaica 6 years ago, the giant was slain and pretty much slaughtered by the Irish owned firm Digicel. With the hottest and most advanced cell phones, the sweetest local and international calling deals, plus customer service and community integration never before experienced- Digicel was like an all-you-can-eat buffet in front of starving Jamaicans.
Fast forward to 2008, Digicel has converted and kept loyal what is now 2 million subscribers, leaving Cable & Wireless with 600,000 subscribers and memories of the old monopoly days plus more CEO changes that even they care to remember.
Just this Monday they are trying again to win Jamaicans on price, ironically after screwing them with high prices for over 50 years. They have launched bundled packages again. I say again because this is the second major attempt in two years. The offer: For one flat rate per month, ranging from a low of $799 up to $7,499, for on-network, off-network and international calls and SMS texting, bmobile subscribers can buy packages of 280-3,800 minutes and 40-1,000 texts, from among eight structured plans.Oopps, almost forgot, they also said customers will also experience improved customer service. * Sigh* ok if they say so, but I’m not holding my breath.
Ooohhh… Ingrid!! Do i detect some underlying sarcasm in this article? LOL.
I can well relate to you on this. I think this could be serious push to recover market share by C&W. It must have been embarrassing to them to have the land line monopoly and was still unable to compete with a “Cellular only” incursion into their territory. I think that like NCB we will see a sudden turnaround within a short timeframe because of serious management change. Not just a “sacrificial CEO” policy without serious change that has been occurring.
We shall see……
May 15th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
LOL…well Roger, C&W is in a position of playing catch up and they have to do something to gain some marketshare because while they may be No. 2 in the market, we all still don’t know what MiPhone with all that Carlos Slim billionaire dollars will be coming with. MIphone could easily make C&W history in this marketplace then turn around and just buy them….LOL…man I love competition, it’s great for people like you and me.
May 15th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Yup. True words. Maybe they should start their own investment club.. Invest in C&W crashplus and get 10%..er 10,000.00 minutes back per month on initial Investment. (I have copywrited that idea, by the way.) LOL
May 16th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
[...] Cable & Wireless-Discount King comes calling again [...]
July 30th, 2008 at 3:12 am
am writing to you in regard to my phone bills in Jamaica, phnoe no 6078316- 6078315
both phone has been out of order for over 2 years the bills has been paying all this time I dont owe you any money. I reported this meny times to your coustomer service.
I was informed by your coustomer service that they will be replaceing both phones and if I dont pay the bills they will disconnect the line.
I cannet understand why is take over 2 years for this matter to besorted and way should I be paying for something that I can not used.
I and going am going calculate all the bills I paid from that time and seake forther advice.
can you please email me back with your reply
your sincerely
V Gayle
August 7th, 2008 at 8:23 pm