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Dated: 01 February 2003
Centennial Digital Jamaica started offering sevices officially on November
29, 2001. Coming in as the number three cellular company, Centennial’s
arrival was heralded with considerably less fanfare than that of the number
two company, Digicel. Perhaps their limited coverage put a muzzle on their blast-off
activities as many persons were not overly impressed with a cellular service
with the word “limited” tacked on to it.
However, one thing Centennial did which had the advertising industry buzzing
was their television ads. The quality was just amazing — bets were taken
on whether it was shot with very high quality video equipment or if the company
really spent all that money to shoot on film. And, if it was indeed shot on
film, was it done in Miami?
It was actually shot on film and the company responsible for the great job
was Advertising and Marketing. “We spent a bundle of money on the ads
and the PR firm did a great job,” is how current Marketing Manager, Carla
Stewart-Rebhan recalls the project.
Despite the high quality of their ads and their encouraging rates, by April
of 2002, there were tell-tale signs that all was not well with the number three
company. Powell noted that “In April, they came to us and said they wanted
out.”
The “they” was the directors of Centennial and the “us”
was Oceanic Digital. What had actually happened was that Oceanic was the company
which had won the cellular licence for Jamaica, beating out Centennial. “Centennial
was surprised that they hadn’t won and came to us with a buy-out offer.
We told then “no”. They then suggested a partnership, and since
they had more experience than we did, we were glad to partner with them,”
Powell noted, adding that Oceanic had interests in the Netherlands Antilles,
the French West Indies and the Dominican Republic.
Centennial, however, would not be content with an even pie. They wanted 51%
of the shares and the management contract. Oceanic conceded. With that Centennial
was responsible for basically all of the work that went into establishing the
company as a viable concern. “There were things that we disagreed with
from the outset, but we were ignored. They saw us as a nuisance more than anything
else,” Powell remarked.
However, when the pie started to crumble, Centennial fled to Oceanic for a buyout.
They said the project was just not feasible, the other cellular companies were
given preferential treatment and they pointed finger at Lucent Technologies,
the company which Centennial had hired to do some of the work.
Oceanic, after doing their homework, concluded that there were areas where
Centennial had gone wrong and, if those things were corrected, then the project
had the potential of being an overwhelming success. They bought back the 51%
shares at “great price” and with it a warehouse full of equipment
that had already been imported to develop more cell site and improve existing
infrastructure.
Powell asserts that the company is in fact almost entirely debt free and is
in a better position, capital-wise, than the other two phone companies. He noted
that with all the equipment they already have on the island they can build cell
site for half what it would cost other providers. And, instead of paying a project
management fee to Lucent, they are the ones managing the project themselves.
Powell added, however, that the company still does business with Lucent, which
has the expertise on site optimisation.
One of the things he criticised the former management for was the purchase
of the building on Knutsford Blvd. “That was one of the things we had
disagreed on initially,” he explained. “We do not need to own a
building, all we need to do is lease some office space.”
It is for this reason that the building, will be put up for sale. “People
might think that the fact that we are selling the building means that we are
in trouble, but the fact is that we are not into the business of real estate.
Right now we owe $1.5 million on the buidling and when we sell it, we are going
to pay off the mortgage and pump the rest of the money back into the business,”
Powell stated.
With the signals being sent out by Centennial, and their commitment to customer
service, which they realize will be one of the main factors that will ultimately
lead to maket differentiation in the liberalized telecom market, perhaps it’s
time for the number one and two providers to start looking keenly at what they
have to offer.
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