Third Mobile Operator in Trinidad and Tobago

Loaded cell tower 
Photo credit : Hassan Voyeau 

So recently we would have seen several companies articulate the position that a third mobile operator in T&T is not feasible in a market where mobile penetration as at December 2014 was 149.1% and only two operators will get a 4G license in the 750Mhz spectrum. We have seen residents object to mobile towers being built in their communities and in some cases they have gotten towers removed. The issue has always been the provision of mobile coverage vs customers concerns around radio frequency emissions from these sites. However, results from studies/test all indicate that local towers meet the compliance levels set by TATT and even the standards set by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the USA.

Most mobile towers are already fully loaded as a result co-location (tower space is rented to other providers) and the number of services being provided via these towers such as Mobile, Wireless broadband etc.

One solution available to TATT if they want further competition in the mobile space is the introduction of a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO). An MVNO is really a wholesale arrangement that allows the Mobile Network Operator (MNO - Digicel or TSTT) to sell excess capacity to an MVNO. Virgin Mobile and Red Pocket Mobile are perfect examples of MVNOs.

So what should happen next?

TSTT and TATT battle!!!!!

The biggest news item to close off 2015 was TSTT successfully averting a licensing fiasco. TSTT and Digicel had concessions that expired on the 29th December 2015. The concessions that expired are:

Public International Telecommunications Services - Digicel & TSTT
Subscription Broadcasting Service (TV) - TSTT
Public Domestic Fixed Telecommunications Network - TSTT
Public Domestic Mobile Telecommunications Network - Digicel & TSTT


With TSTT holding on to > 50% market share in all markets (mobile?) except television a shutdown of these services would have dire consequences for T&T not just from a commercial standpoint but also from a national security standpoint as well. A simple check of TATT's (Local Telecoms Regulator) website reveals that apart from TSTT, concessions for Flow, Network Technologies Limited and Open Telecom expire today (4th January 2016)

Flow
Public International Telecommunications Services
Subscription Broadcasting Service (over a Public Domestic Fixed Telecom. Network only)
Public Domestic Fixed Telecommunications Network

Network Technologies Limited
Subscription Broadcasting Service (over a Public Domestic Fixed Telecom. Network only)
Public Domestic Fixed Telecommunications Network.

Open Telecom
Public International Telecommunications Service


So a few questions come to mind.

1) The concession document is a standard contract with adjustments made for each provider depending on the services offered and market being served (national, niche/community). The document also defines quality of service requirements (Schedule F - which will be discussed in a future post). So if clauses were amended/removed has this now placed TSTT at an advantage/disadvantage over other concessionaires?

2) Have other providers signed their renewals or are they still in negotiations? If negotiations are ongoing with the other providers why was TSTT forced to sign its renewal?

3) When will TATT give us its side of the story?

Finally, a concession is renewed by the line minister on the recommendation of TATT upon application by the concessionaire to TATT and secondly TATT also examines the concessionaire's previous compliance with the conditions of the concession to determine whether the concession should be renewed.

We're back!!!!

After a well deserved rest I have a lot of things to share with you for 2016. So look out its going to be an awesome year.

More KPIs the merrier?

I often ask persons how do they measure performance and you will be surprised to hear the responses. So if you are working in a telecom or other service type industry and trying to figure out what to measure, rest assured there are probably a thousand + things that you can track but I have compiled a list of ten for my readers. So if you are looking to set up your corporate dashboard you may what to examine a few of these or drop me a line if you have some favorites and why.

Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) - Total revenue divided by the number of subscribers.

Churn Rate - Percentage of customers that discontinue their subscription to a service in a given period.

EBITDA - Net income with interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization added back

Average Wait Time (AWT) - Time customer waits before they are answered by Customer service representative

Call Drop Rate - Percentage of calls which, due to technical reasons, were disconnected before either part terminated the call.

Time to repair (TTR) - Average time required to repair service

Revenue Per Employee - Identitfies how efficiently a particular company is utilizing its employees.

Minutes of Usage - The total time, measured in minutes, that a customer uses their phone during a specified period

First-Call Resolution (FCR) - Resolving customer's need the first time they call, eliminating the need for the customer to call back.

Payback Period - The length of time required to recover the cost of an investment.

If your broadband package was only 1000Mb

Tonight I am working and a member of my family asks why is the internet so slow? Now we have a 10Mb package from a local provider and it works okay, although the last few days it was up and down. So I then asked the person how much bandwidth do they want and funny enough, I was promptly informed that they would take the maximum available. 

I was the project owner for the implementation of a 1000Mb aka "one gigabit" connection to a residential community just over a year ago in Trinidad. Whilst it was a first for T&T it was also the first such implementation in the english speaking Caribbean.

Implementation went well with a wonderful public launch etc. The reality is how many of us can afford it. Most of us can't but the speed would be nice given that you can download emails or songs in milliseconds plus get streaming 4k television content.

So what would you do with 1000Mb of bandwidth?

T&T Telecom Operators 2015

A colleague of mine who resides in the US was assisting his mother in relocating to T&T and wanted to know if T&T only had  two providers which I quickly corrected. This prompted me to develop the listing below for the benefit of readers. Enjoy!!

Landline
Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited (FLOW) 
Digicel (Trinidad and Tobago)Limited 
Massy Communications Limited 
Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) 

Broadband
Air Link Communications.
Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited (CCTL)
Digicel (Trinidad and Tobago) Limited. 
Green Dot Limited
Lisa Communications Limited
Massy Communications Limited
Open Telecom Limited
Telecommunications Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT)

Mobile
Digicel (Trinidad and Tobago) Limited. 
Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (bmobile); 

Subscription TV
Air Link Communications Limited
Columbus Communications Trinidad Limited (CCTL)
DirecTV Trinidad Limited
Diversified Technologies Limited
Green Dot Limited
Independent Cable Network of Trinidad and Tobago (ICNTT)
Massy Communications Limited
Network Technologies Limited
RVR International Limited
Santa Flora Cable Network Limited
Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT) 
TRICO Industries Limited

Why we love Contact Centers?

I recently had to call a local provider’s contact center for assistance with an issue. Well after navigating the menu and waiting for what seemed like an eternity I eventually spoke a customer service representative. The customer service experience was one of the worst I have encountered in all my years of working in customer service. Contact centers are driven by metrics such as First-call resolution (FCR), Average Waiting Time (AWT), Average Hold Time (AHT) just to name a few and these have to be monitored and adjustments made during the workday in order to meet stated customer service objectives.

But what could cause such a poor customer experience in the first place. Well, here are my top five reasons.

Agent absenteeism – More so seeing T&T is ranked fifth among countries in the world with the highest rates of workplace absenteeism.

High staff turnover – Negatively impacts quality, because every time a trained agent leaves, fewer are on hand to ensure an optimum level of service.

Little focus on first-call-resolution – Resulting in the customer having to speak to several agents regarding a single inquiry

Poor integration of IT platforms – Resulting in the employee having to access multiple systems (CRM databases, workforce management tools and sales order processing applications) to satisfy customer request thus increasing the transaction time.

Employee/Job mismatch – Wrong person for the job.

What's the longest you had to wait to speak to a customer care agent?