LIME Jamaica is to enter the competitive television market with its own brand of Lime TV.

This was disclosed by chairman Chris Dehring at the telecoms' annual general meeting held last week at the Wyndham Hotel in Kingston.

The foray into television is part of Lime's strategy to increase its value proposition to customers in an effort to turnaround its business and to fully explore the 'entertainment' aspect of its moniker: Landline, Internet, Mobile, Entertainment.

Faced with declining market share, competition and a market weakened by the recession, Lime has posted losses year on year, with 2010 ending with a $3.4 billion loss for the company. However, in an impassioned presentation to shareholders, Dehring said the company would not just defend its market share, but would actively seek out new markets and new customers to broaden its competitive footprint.

"It's been a very, very tough time for our company... Just as I have felt a bit of sadness of a company that came to the Caribbean 140 years ago and has been such an integral part of Caribbean and Jamaican life, that it has declined to the point where several of you as shareholders probably have been very disappointed with the results, it is time to start afresh," said Dehring.

"If we battle each other in the market more and more on prices it takes out all the value and it can be very, very difficult to make a profit. We have some new services that we are launching that is unprecedented in this part of the world," Dehring said, adding "We need to improve our customer service again to differentiate and we are going to have to have some high-profile marketing as well."

Among the new services is Lime TV, which will be brought into the homes of Jamaicans via the extensive network through which the company delivers its landline service. Dehring said Lime TV would compete with traditional forms of television, "not just on price and quality, but on the range of services that you would be able to do on television".

"A lot of that will be spoken of in the months to come so I don't want to give the competitors too much of an heads-up, but I can tell you it is a product that you will enjoy as customers and that you will be proud of as shareholders," Dehring said.

"So we will be working those assets because that entertainment aspect it completes the quad play. But we know we are up against extremely formidable opponents, opponents that we respect," he added.

When quizzed on how well Lime would fare against competitors that are entrenched in the market, Lime managing director Geoff Houston said recent developments have proven that the company can compete with anyone.

"I think we've started to establish our competitive credentials. We've connected well over 100,000 new customers this year so we are winning back market share from our competition. We spend a lot less in terms of marketing through much more creative thinking. Customers are proving that our offers are better so we are very confident that we can compete on an equal footing with anybody," said Houston.