Jan Remmelg, CEO LIME Northern Cluster and new Manager of LIME, Randoph Lewis at press conference to introduce new LIME services
New manager, upgrade of services, internet and 4G
LIME CEO and new manager Randolpph Lewis tell of new investments to upgrade services and internet and network facilities in Montserrat
LIME’s (Montserrat) new manager is Randolph Lewis. He was appointed acting Manager on March 10 this year, following the quick resignation of five-year Manager Joseph Cassell who succeeded Neville Dublin.
This announcement came at a press conference, Heleconia House, in Sweeneys, held by Jan Remmelg, Chief Executive Officer, LIME Northern Cluster, flanked by the new manager Lewis. On his appointment Remmelg referred to Lewis as “a model employee with the right skills to move the business forward…”
Following the announcement, Remmelg proceeded to inform that the LIME’s headquarters will now be in Miami, serving the Caribbean and Central America. “When the headquarters was in London, it was more from a portfolio management prospective with so many businesses around the world, now when it’s reduced and we are now – in the Caribbean and Central America. It becomes more an operational involvement and an engagement from the headquarters and then being in Miami makes more sense because they are closer to it, he said, adding “The brand is an evolution and it kind of evolves over time and now we are taking the LIME brand with a different approach It is just a part of that whole evolution and having consistency.”
The island’s only Telecommunications provider LIME now announces they will invest $2.5 million in the networks and services on Montserrat. That comes out of a pool of a US$ one billion dollars investment in the Caribbean which will see a number of investments on Montserrat including the launch of 4G networks, and improved bandwidth speeds “up to 10 fold,” Remmelg said.
With rumours and whispers and even expressed desire that Digicel is expected to be in Montserrat soon, the LIME CEO says: “In general I normally welcome competition. I think it’s a good thing, both from the market prospective. I think it’s always a challenge in a smaller community and the fact is that the population of Montserrat and the size of the distances etc. is limited, I think to be able to sustain a reasonable profitability as a business and being able to continue with investments like I was talking about earlier with having too many operators sharing the same pie may be a challenge.”
He confirmed that LIME has been involved with Government since last year in talks over fibre optic cable for Montserrat. “…the submarine fiber that unfortunately got disconnected a number of years back during the eruption of the volcano; we did discuss that this morning (with the Premier and Minister of Communications) as well,” he said, adding, “so we are committed to be a part of the development of this country, and so projects like this of course, is in our interest as well.”
How soon will 4G which is already available in neighbouring islands will come to Montserrat? Remmelg said there isn’t an exact date but it will be within the next three months.
In the upgrade, he said that they are working hard to ensure that Montserrat will not be so dependent to have the result like during the passage of Gonzalo which rose to hurricane winds, knocking out major telecom services which severely affected Montserrat for several days in some instances.
