Sharp about turn being made on planned trimming the local operation

Durrant Pate/Contributor

Amid going through a restricting exercise, Jamaican based regional telecoms giant, Digicel is pouring money in Trinidad and Tobago, as it steps up investments in the local infrastructure.

Digicel is expanding its fibre network, mobile capacity, security infrastructure and connectivity to the smaller island of Tobago while hiring more salespeople, technicians and support staff as the telecommunications company sees stronger demand.

 Group CEO, Marcelo Cataldo, who confirmed the planned investments acknowledged that the T&T operation is growing even as the wider group continues to restructure around a leaner, more decentralised business model and greater use of artificial intelligence.

Speaking in an interview with T&T’s Business Guardian following last weeks’ Caribbean Association of National Telecommunications Organisations’ (CANTO) 41st Annual Conference and Trade Exhibition in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, Cataldo quipped, “on the contrary, in T&T we are hiring because we’re selling more….So we need more salespeople. So we need more support people, technicians. We’re growing our networks.”

Turning back on planned retrenchment exercise

The comments come after Digicel announced in February last year that redundancies would form part of a decentralisation plan. In a memo sent to staff at the time, Cataldo said the company had its “eyes firmly set on creating a lean telco structure that empowers the drive for superior value creation and puts its markets in the driving seat.”

The memo said Digicel had spent months carefully reviewing its organisation to structure and redesign the business “to be fit for the future”. Digicel confirmed that the plan would affect some group-level roles across Cayman, El Salvador, Haiti, Jamaica, St Lucia, T&T and the United States, and that it had started a consultation period with staff.

The restructuring later extended to the group’s media operations, with Loop digital news and SportsMax staff paid off and sent home in August. Cataldo, however, told Business Guardian the picture in T&T is different.

The company has expanded fibre in the south and is extending it into other areas, while increasing mobile capacity, strengthening connectivity to Tobago and working with the Government on security-related camera projects. Cataldo Digicel is expanding mobile capacity and had introduced backup solutions for Tobago. 

No divulging of planned capital outlay

However, the Digicel Group CEO declined to disclose the amount being invested locally, saying a figure could give competitors information about Digicel’s plan, adding, “I’d love to give you a number, but that number will get to my competitors. So let them figure it out and we will just keep investing.”

He pointed to the growing number of technicians working on the ground as the company expands its fibre footprint. Digicel has also expanded its prepaid sales network, allowing small businesses and shops to sell its SIM cards; “we have also expanded our capillarity, sales capillarity for prepaid. Small shops can now sell Digicel SIM cards. You don’t have to go to a store to buy a SIM card for Digicel. Right in your neighbourhood you can buy.”

The investment is being shaped by the need to build resilient telecommunications networks across Digicel’s 25 jurisdictions. Many face hurricanes and severe weather, while T&T has challenges including power outages.

Cataldo called for a regulatory environment that gives operators enough certainty to commit capital for the long term and went on to disclose that Digicel is also investing in cybersecurity as more businesses and public services move online. Digicel is working with governments and companies to identify their cybersecurity needs, including the policy frameworks required to protect digital infrastructure.