Market Opportunities Unlimited (MOU) Blog

Digicel to Value Claro Assets; 254 Claro Employees to be Cut!

claro jamaica
Originally uploaded by owensoft

Last Thursday, Digicel announced  that Jamaica would stand to benefit from its acquisition of Claro Jamaica.

 

This follows the the Jamaican government's approval of the Digicel Claro takeover deal, late last year.

 

The benefits to be accrued to the Jamaican economy include Digicel's:

 

1) Topping up of its current JMD $1 billion investment in Jamaica, by another $30 million, to further rollout its 4G services across the island

 

2) Reduction of interconnection charges between itself and other mobile providers in Jamaica.

 

Now, this is welcome relief for  especially Digicel customers, as it was feared that Digicel's dominance in the mobile telecommuications market (now at over 76% market share), would auger its retention of  its high interconnection rates.

 

According to press release, "JAMAICA TO BENEFIT FROM DIGICEL ACQUISITION OF CLARO":

 

"Effective January 4, for prepaid and January 12, for postpaid, customers will benefit from a JMD $3.50 per minute peak rate reduction and a JMD $2 per minute off peak rate reduction on calls to LIME".

==========Update January 12,2012======== 

So Digicel's prepaid customers will now pay $14.20 (peak) and $13.80 (off peak), to speak to customers on the LIME mobile network...

 

...and on January 12, postpaid customers will pay $14.00 (peak) and $13.00 (off peak) to speak to customers on the LIME mobile network.

 =====================================

 

NB: Nothing has been said re the reduction of interconnection charges from LIME mobile to Digicel.

 

 

3) Plans to value Claro assets in Jamaica.

 

4) Planned dismissal of 254 Claro employees. However,  150 of them will be offered fixed contracts, plus generous bonus packages.

 

All these Claro staff will be offered four (4) weeks of pay above what is required and continuing health care, lunch allowances and phone credit benefits for a period of three (3) months.

 

Additionally, Digicel will be encouraging Claro employees to apply for any vacant positions within Digicel.

 

The  staff cuts are to be made late January 2012.

 

Gillian

 

Sources Include

1) Television Jamaica, January 6,2011

2) Press Release "JAMAICA TO BENEFIT FROM DIGICEL ACQUISITION OF CLARO", December 5,2011

Happy New Year from Market Opportunities Unlimited (MOU) Blog!

With 2011 behind us, it is now time to look forward to a New Year.

 

There are lessons that we've hopefully learned, that we must transfer to this year and beyond.

 

It is said that to do something in the same way and expect different results, is lunacy.

 

So let  us as companies, business persons and professionals, enter this New Year, sanely.

 

Don't be afraid to experiment, don't be afraid to hire the right staff - even if you have to pay them extra.

 

It is better to hire someone who is multi-skilled and who can help in several areas, than to hire four (4) persons whose skill-base doesn't even add up to that of that one (1) person.

 

As we enter the New Year, we at Market Opportunities Unlimited (MOU) Blog, as we've done for the past six (6) years, will continue to update you re new technologies that will enable your businesses and professions to flourish.

 

We will continue to help you to capitalize on new market opportunities: new markets, customers and careers that will be available to you as a result of these new technologies, so that your professional lives will be rewarding and your technology businesses, profitable.

 

To our loyal visitors, advertising partners and advertisers, we say thank you for your continued support.

 

...and to those who are new, we say welcome!

 

It is our hope that your New Year will be one of renewed insight into your customer base, innumerable opportunities and fiscal prudence.

 

Happy New Year from Market Opportunities Unlimited (MOU) Blog!

 

Gillian

International Anti-Corruption Day Reflections: How Did Your Brand Do? (Part 1)

The following is the first of a 2-part series:

 

International Anti-Corruption Day was celebrated yesterday, December 9,2011.

 

It's a day when anti-corruption agencies within some countries, take the time to raise awareness about corruption and its perils and how it negatively affects the prosperity of a country and its people.

 

Before we delve into our discussion, let's look at two (2) definitions of corruption:

 

1) Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery

2) The action of making someone or something morally depraved or the state of being so.

 

So how did your brand do in light of the above definitions?

 

[A brand is a set of symbols, names, terms, designs and associations (or combinations thereof) that differentiate one seller's products from those of another].

 

Are you treating your internal customers (your staff and business partners), fairly?

 

Yes?

 

Really?

 

Well, let's see, I travelled around Kingston and just observed how customers were being treated at this time of year: The busiest and most lucrative time of year for some retailers.

 

Did some checking on Thursday and Friday at some stores, whose store owners thought their brand was in tact.

 

This is not what your employees had to say though...

 

...and certainly how they interacted with your customers showed their contempt for you and for your customers.

 

In some instances, your customer-facing staff were downright rude!

=============

 

Remember, your brand also consists of those associations that people have when your product or company name comes to mind.

 

Those associations can be positive or negative.

 

So marketers are hired to create memorable positive associations for your products and/or for your company, so that your customers will keep coming back for more of your products and will tell others of the positive experiences they've had with these products and so encourage others to patronize you too.

 

A brand increases your company's worth approximately 7-25 times than it would have been, had your products/company not had these positive associations.

 

There is a lot more to branding than this, but let's stick to this aspect for now.

 

So for Apple, some of the most potent brand associations they have are "innovative", "cutting edge", "producer of new and relevant electronic products that solve people's everyday problems".

 

See more associations, here.

 

Your brand  is like an apple (no pun intended), if its core is rotten, it will soon reflect on the outside of the apple.

 

A lot of customer-facing staff in Jamaica are poorly-paid...

 

...and to top it off, they aren't paid overtime for working far beyond their usual 8-hour shifts, during the holidays.

===========

 

Your customers are your life-blood people!

 

You can't afford to have your staff running away your customers.

 

Pay them well (determine their true worth to your organization). Treat them well. Pay over their taxes and other statutory deductions, when due.

 

When you don't, you'll experience anemic and lethargic sales.

 

Your business/company seeing black (making a profit) at the end of the month/quarter, depends on how you treat your partners, in this instance, your employees.

 

Don't defraud your employees.

 

Don't make them morally depraved by not paying them what they're worth.

 

Treat them well and they'll reward you richly.

 

As for some online retailers ...I will be revealing my general observations next week, all being well.

 

More anon!

 

(I would like to thank Andreas Schwind for the use of his Flickr inset photo above, entitled,"apfel/apple").

 

Gillian