By L.K. Hewlett
St. Kitts Reporter
Tuesday proved to be a landmark day for telecommunications company Digicel as Nevis Premier Honourable Joseph Parry flipped the switch to officially activate their new micro cell radio base site on the island.
The ceremony commemorating the event was held on the site’s location at St. Thomas Anglican Church and was attended by ministers in the Nevis Island Administration as well as members of the local corporate community.
Digicel St. Kitts-Nevis Country Manager Donovan White announced that the new cell site meant that Nevisians would now be receiving better coverage across the island, a problem he said, that his company had been working tirelessly to rectify for some time.
“This is a significant milestone for us because for a long time we’ve wanted to be in this position in Nevis and could not have done it before. So this is a momentous day for Digicel, for our customers here in Nevis and for all those mobile telecommunications users who would have liked to have had the service. Now they definitely have all the choices they need to have better service, coverage and value. We feel that reaching out to this community in this way is significant in itself, as it has been said by many that Digicel is a St. Kitts company. This has bothered me personally and Digicel on a whole. We represent a product that everybody can avail themselves of and we pride ourselves in always offering the best possible service in whichever market that we operate in. I feel very humbled to say that we are now able to offer the island of Nevis better coverage with mobile communications. I’m excited at our renewed ability to deliver this service to our Nevis customers and with the broadest reaching coverage not only in Nevis but also right across the federation,” White said.
During his address, Premier Parry said that he was very happy to be at the ceremony since he had known of venture for some time. He mentioned that the negotiations had gone back and forth for a while as the planned site location had been changed between two other areas.
“I wish to take the opportunity to tell you that we in Nevis are a progressive government and we are involved in multiple tasks, with multiple programmes seeking to advance this country and its people. We welcome the activities from Digicel or any other progressive company. We do need instant and modern communications on this island because the people who we are attracting here wish always to be in touch with their families, businesses and other investors so we are looking forward to great service. It is my understanding that with the turning on of this new cell site, Digicel will be able to cover the whole of Nevis so that no user of their cellphones will have to be out of contact with anybody for any time,” Parry said.
He admonished Digicel to be actively involved in the country’s social development initiatives, as he believed that economical development by itself is not enough.
“We are involved in serious social development, especially youth development. We have had difficulties in the federation with some delinquency activities and crimes and that does not go down well with us at all. We are seeking to address these problems by establishing a range of community centres around the island and to use theses centres to train our people as we believe that if they are trained and educated, people are less inclined to move towards crime. I am expecting Digicel to play its role as a corporate entity on the island of Nevis. We do not wish for any tokenism and we do not wish for anything that lasts for one year. We wish for you to be a long term partner in the development of young people whether it is with cricket, athletics or skills training, we expect you to be there with us,” Parry commented.
White responded to the NIA leader by saying that Digicel is always committed to the communities in which they work, and said that the company was willing to do anything within reason to assist the entire island in the continuance of its own development. He also added that competition in any market meant greater benefits for the consumers.
“Digicel has had so much growth in the Caribbean since we launched in 2001 in Jamaica. So many economies throughout the world are experiencing significant growth because of the advent of competition and its presence in their economy. Telecommunications is a business that was set in its ways as it related to being a monopoly for decades. So for us to have been able to come into the Caribbean and now operate in twenty-two markets with a newly approved license for a twenty-third market in Suriname, is a phenomenal achievement in just under six years of operations in the Caribbean. Our growth in the St. Kitts and Nevis market is something that we pride ourselves on tremendously.”
