Telecommunications service provider, Cable & Wireless Jamaica (C&WJ), will by March begin phasing out bill payment services at its 19 business offices across the island, cutting an undisclosed number of staff and offices in the process.

The Observer was unable to ascertain the precise level of redundancy that will result from the restructure, as Cable & Wireless was said to be in negotiations with unions and business partners.

"In about 10 days we should have a more precise feel of what the business would be like," said Errol Miller, corporate communications manager at C&WJ.

The plans to close its bill payment centres is a further deepening of process of outsourcing that C&W began a few years ago.

Currently, C&W bills can be paid at Paymaster Jamaica, Bills Express outlets, and at banks and building societies.
However, it was not clear up to press time last night if the plans will have any immediate impact on C&W's service centres, though it was apparent that the company ultimately plans to divest itself of this operation.

Yesterday, in his statement to the media, C&W's president, Gary Barrow, noted that the outsourcing of the services would not only improve the company's operational efficiency, but also provide further business opportunities for external payment centres.

"Our company is operating in an environment that is totally different from that which existed even two years ago and which continues to change almost daily," said Barrow. "As such we have to reshape our organisation to ensure that we optimise the way in which we deliver services to our customers."

Barrow said that the company already had proposals from business interests for the operation of full business centres.
"Several have indicated their interest in establishing full service centres which will offer the services traditionally offered in C&WJ business offices," he said.

Over the past three years, C&WJ has reduced its staff by some 1,000 - from 3,207 employees in March 2001 to the current staff complement of 2,200.

The reorganisation has come against the background of a liberalised telecoms market which has seen the entry of two cellular services providers - Digicel Jamaica, and Centennial, with Digicel taking over C&W as the largest of the three cell services providers.

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