Cable and Wireless Jamaica (C&W) is in a new expansion phase and is going for a greater share of the mobile phone market. As part of this plan it will launch a new mobile phone product in conjunction with the "right strategic partner" soon.

Davis. the Pressa advertisements were just too successful. we have grown our active mobile customers by 37 per cent over the last fiscal year

In an interview with the Sunday Finance, Cable and Wireless CEO Rodney Davis did not want to reveal many details, but indicated that the new product will be geared at medium and small businesses.
This new product is part of a US$150-million capital expenditure programme that will see the company expanding its investment in cell sites over the next nine months. "We will be establishing our presence in areas where we were weak, such as May Pen, Trelawny and Portland," Davis said.

Asked to comment on whether this business alliance and new product were in response to the recent announcement of a joint marketing initiative by Flow and Miphone - a move seen as likely to make a dent on Cable and Wireless' market share, he quipped: "I have always said this business is not a sprint, it is a marathon. We are in it for the long haul. Further, what you see on the outside is not always the true picture."

He continued, "we don't take our competition lightly. What we do is focus on the competitive landscape and then we deal with it, our way".

Elaborating in more detail on the current mobile phone market that he said was dominated by the prepaid customers he added: "We are pleased with our position and we will continue to strengthen our position and increase our investments. The Pressa advertisements were just too successful. We have grown our active mobile customers by 37 per cent over the last fiscal year".

Further, the Cable and Wireless CEO divulged that in this current quarter the company intends to introduce new pre- and post-paid products. He added that C&W was targeting the expanding small business sector and, in this regard, he said that the Blackberrry line of phone had already found favour with the market and sales had doubled in one month.

In addition to expansion in mobile phones, the telecoms giant intends to increase its provision of broadband services. "We are the primary driver of the broadband market. Just some nine months ago, broadband was only available to two per cent of households, now this figure is up to eight per cent. Last September, we did our best month in broadband sales to date."

Of course, this is no idle boast as just days ago the communications giant announced that a new US$10-million IP-VPNQoS (Quality of Service) solution and the MPLS (Multi Product Label Switching) network that will enable it to better utilise its own existing bandwidth and thus reduce its cost per unit.

Regarding the resumption of public phones the C&W honcho explained that the company had delayed resumption of this service until it had a calling card in place.

"Now with the success of the Jus Talk calling card we will soon be offering the service once more," he declared.

But it is not only in the sales of mobile phones that the company will be active. The C&W CEO served notice that its Foundation - its charitable arm - intends to step up its involvement in the provision of computers in school.

"We are committed to the use of technology in education" he stated.

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