LIME BVI $7ml expansion to include TV – C&W CEO Phil Bentley
Mr. Bentley in the presence of key local LIME management staff led by General Manager of LIME BVI, Mr Sean Auguste met with reporters where the company’s plans and investments were discussed in detail.
The Press Conference was held at Maria’s by the Sea earlier today.
Foremost were the plans to upgrade the communication infrastructure designed to take internet services up to the vicinity of 50 Mbps, improve the quality of their 4G network and new, LIME TV which is scheduled to come on stream next year.
As it relates to the new component of TV Mr. Bentley said that since the company is not prepared to go in the direction of pirating, which is illegal, the TV service that will be fed through their new feature come 2015, will reflect the regular Spanish component because of the set up of the legal system here in the Virgin Islands.
“Hopefully we will be launching our LIME TV product here in the BVI as well. Obviously key to quality TV is about the speed of the fibre optic cable to carry the signals which allows customers, to pause, to record, to play back and all the most sophisticated things that people increasingly demand of their cable TV providers,” said Mr Bentley.
He said that LIME sees TV as being very important to them because increasingly it is being sold as a package.
"Broadband, fixed lines and TV is a package and that’s why we are absolutely committed to expanding our TV offer as well,” he said.
Mr Bentley said that LIME is concentrated on four elements which encompass growth, investment, the revamping of their stores to allow for them having a more consistent approach to their many branches across the Region.
Mr. Bentley told reporters that he is relatively new to the telecommunication industry and that he recently bought $4.3 million shares in Cable & Wireless.
In speaking of the $7 ml budgeted to be plugged into the local arm of LIME they plan to invest in the vicinity of US$5M of that amount to upgrade broadband services in fibre optic technology to deliver significantly improved speed to customers as he insisted that they want to put customers at the heart of the business.
“The biggest complaint customers have around the region is the quality of the network and the speed of the network. Once we fix that we will continue to give great service in attractive stores with good products and a broad range of telecommunications offers,” he said.
“…that is where we differ with say Digicel where traditionally they are just a mobile only company. Increasingly, the game is going to be won by companies who offer fixed and mobile network jointly…I think that is where we have the advantage when we would have completed this investment programme,” he added.
Bentley recognized the VI as an important market and what they are doing in the VI is being done in the rest of the Caribbean where they are investing in mobile, broadband and are working closely with Governments and businesses.
Mr Auguste confirmed that while work has already started on the network more equipment arrived on island yesterday and more is expected soon.
While Bentley will be visiting the offices and main LIME store today, which he hadn’t seen up to the time of the press conference, he said that he will be engaging Minister for Communications and Works Honourable Mark H. Vanterpool (R4) and the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) today.
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