Poor
Connections
" Caught between low staff morale and customers' demand
for lower rates,
everything is on the line for the new Cable & Wireless (St
Vincent) boss, Robert Calvert. "
by Keisha Phillips
Kingstown, St Vincent
With its focus on customer service and market development as its claim to fame, Cable & Wireless (WI) Ltd has found that recent relations with its customers and staff have been anything but friendly.
With so much tension on the lines, the start of the New Year saw telephone customers in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) anxiously awaiting word from Cable & Wireless on whether the rates for local calls would be reduced.
Spurred on by dramatic technological advances, the regional
telecommunications industry expanded rapidly in the 1980s and
this has continued into the current decade.
Being the fastest and easiest form of communication, the telecommunications
continues to expand worldwide, but to Vincentians the telephone
is nothing but an ornament.
People are afraid to make phone calls because the rates are so high.
So strong were feelings about the high rates that hundreds
of protesters took to the streets of the capital, Kingstown, in
November - the second protest against high telephone rates in
seven months. Red was the colour of the day, as angry consumers
wore red clothing, hats, shoes and ribbons to show support for
the protest.
Many had placards and shouted, "We shall overcome!"
"Lower rates now!" "We want flat rates!" "Calvert
must go!" The angry protesters demanded an immediate reduction
of between 25 and 50 percent.
It was on New Year's Day, 1993 that Cable & Wireless (C&W) introduced the "New Fair Way to Pay" system. But many customers claim that they are now paying more for telephone services than they did before... and so the protests continue. Letters were being written to the telephone company daily and some businessmen even published advertisements in the newspapers protesting the rate structure.
To compare the rates, in Barbados and Grenada, consumers pay a flat sum, with no charge for local calls. In Anguilla, each local call (unlimited time) is considered one unit. But in SVG, St Kitts and Antigua, telephone rates are measured and charged by duration of the call.
Comparing daytime (6am to 6pm) rates: Antigua pays EC$0.15 for 3 minutes and St Kitts, EC$0.14, but SVG pays EC$0.25 for only 2 minutes. Night rates are lower, but still higher than regional averages. Antigua's night rates are EC$0.15 for 6 minutes and St Kitts, EC$0.17 for 5 minutes. Montserrat pays EC$0.14 cents for 8 minutes. In SVG, however, subscribers pay EC$0.25 for just 3 minutes.
Despite the protests however, it seems very unlikely that telephone subscribers will get their New Year's wish. A few months ago, C&W's General Manager, Robert Calvert made it clear that there will be no rate reduction, as the company simply could not afford a lower price structure.
The British born Calvert, who has worked with the company for
27 years, said however, that C&W will soon embark on a program
to develop and upgrade the local telephone market.
"Our rate plan is most directly affected by the initiatives of Government, who are also regulators of the market. We are limited by these regulations and commitments. If prices are reduced we may not be able to accommodate our other commitments.
"Despite this situation, we are looking at the possibility of reducing costs and rates on international calls. The comment has been made that the cost of international calls are high but the foreign calls are subsidising local toll charges. Additionally, the local rental fee is among the lowest in the region. And so, by necessity there must be some balancing of the rates in order to reduce the other rate structure.
Calvert said it is very difficult when one compares one location with another because there are a lot of different factors, such as geography, which are unavoidably incorporated into the charges. He said because the company offers full services to eight small islands the cost of installing and maintaining the network is high. C&W has close to 18,000 subscribers in SVG, supported by a permanent staff of 202, plus 40 casual workers."
Prime Minister, James Mitchell has also promised get involved in the negotiations, adding that the Government had made some proposals and they had expected a reply from C&W by January.
But as subscribers await the results of Government's initiative, many still feel offended by remarks made by Calvert to the local press. In his first press conference after taking over from St Vincent born, Bert Bonadie, who retired in May 1996, Calvert replied strongly to the media's questions about his plans for streamlining rates with the rest of the region, stating bluntly, "I am not here to be popular- I have a job to do!"
Many subscribers took the statement as an insult, and, he was not prepared to change the company's position. A campaign was soon started to oust him from office. Notable businessmen even called on Government to revoke his work permit and have the position filled by someone else -preferably a local.
As if that was not enough, Calvert seems to have attracted a series of staff disputes since coming to office. A most notable incident involved the dismissal of an employee with 25 years service for "persistently neglecting to follow instructions." This led to a two-week strike, which forced the General Manager to cut short a regional C&W Managers' conference in order to deal with the issue.
As tensions seem poised to take an upward twist in 1997, Cable and Wireless continues to be haunted by the same issues and controversies that characterised the old year.
Executive Time "Online" also has a printed version which is available throughout the Caribbean and some selected North American cities.
