Chief Executive of Cable & Wireless International Harris Jones has wrapped up a one week visit to Dominica and Grenada.

 

While in Dominica, Mr. Jones met with Prime Minister Roosevelt Skeritt, the management team and employees of Cable & Wireless Dominica and a number of customers.   One of the highlights of his visit was a hands-on stint in the Customer Service area, meeting with and serving customers there.

 

Mr. Jones used the opportunity to state clearly that Cable & Wireless was working actively towards reducing the cost of calling mobile phones from fixed line telephones, once Mobile Termination Rates (MTR) are reduced.  He made it clear that the costs of calling mobile phones are too high and stressed that customers will benefit if these rates are reduced.

 

In Grenada Mr. Jones met with Prime Minister Dr. The Hon Keith Mitchell and was guest of honour at a cocktail party which was attended by customers and key stakeholders.

 

He also spent time discussing the operations there with the management team.

 

Cable & Wireless employees were happy to have a chance to meet and speak with the company's most senior executive and Mr. Jones took time out to tour some of the offices and stores at the various retail locations.

When Mr. Jones sat down with noted Grenadian journalist, Lew Smith, questions were raised about some of the more serious issues facing the company and the purpose for his visit to Grenada.  He also touched on some key points including the issue of Mobile Termination Rates (MTR's)  and reiterated his commitment to reduce these rates across the region.

 

MTR's are the rates telecommunications networks pay to each other to allow calls from their networks to reach or "terminate" on each other's networks.

 

Mr. Jones was explicitly clear in his belief that some of the other networks are charging much higher costs than necessary to facilitate these calls.

 

He maintains that Cable & Wireless as a company is:

.       fundamentally against the fixed line consumers subsidizing the operational costs of these mobile networks by paying overly high rates to call those mobile networks. (e.g. International carriers charge 0.37 cents to receive a call from a fixed line vs. Digicel which charges 61 cents-nearly double the cost for the same service.) (CC Managers, please check that these numbers are correct for your market)

·        not responsible for the rates for a customer to call a mobile number from their fixed line - these are set by the NTRC (National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission)

·        committed to reducing these rates dramatically - however some of its mobile competitors who currently are benefiting from the charging higher termination rates  are resisting

·        Strongly of the belief that lowering these prices will be in the best interests of the general population everywhere and will be relentless in the pursuit of their reduction.

 

Official visit with Rt.Hon.Prime Minister.

Mr. Jones also made a plea for the regulators to review the MTR issue so that the people of Grenada and other islands in the Eastern Caribbean can pay less money to call mobile phones.

 

 

Cable & Wireless is one of the world's leading international communications companies. It provides voice, data and IP (Internet Protocol) services to business and residential customers, as well as services to other telecoms carriers, mobile operators and providers of content, applications and Internet services.

Cable & Wireless' principal operations are in the United Kingdom, continental Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Panama and the Middle East.

For more information about Cable & Wireless, go to www.cw.com.