Not good enough!

Professor AvinAsh Persaud, an economist, chairman of Intelligence Capital Limited and the man charged with getting the luxury Four Season hotel and villas project on the West Coast restarted had some choice words for broadband service providers in Barbados and a challenge to Government to force these telecommunications companies to improve their service quality and reliability. (Picture by Rawle Culbard.)

By Geralyn Edward, Business Editor | Fri, October 26, 2012 - 12:10 AM

Telecoms companies in Barbados need to get their act together or be stripped of their licences says noted economist Professor Avinash Persaud.

In a no-holds barred address to major players in the international business community, the economist charged that these companies’ failure to provide reliable and efficient broad band services could doom the offshore sector.

He called on Government to get so tough on the providers that their ability to operate should be threatened thereby forcing them to up their standard of Internet service.

Persaud was one of the featured speakers yesterday at the Barbados International Business Association’s (BIBA) two-day conference Creative Approaches For Global Expansion at Hilton Barbados.

Please read the full story in today’s WEEKEND NATION, or in the eNATION edition.

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Posted by Carl Harper 6 months, 3 weeks ago: While I may disagree with much of what Professor has to say on the now politically aligned Four Seasons project, I must admit we're on the same page as it relates to the unreliability of broadband service by telecom companies.

What is most disturbing is the arrogance in which these companies do business. It is almost like they don't give a damn about the customers they serve.

We are plagued daily with frequent service dropouts, slower than advertised speeds, long wait times to fix problems, poor response to technical support, and the audacity to increase prices on an already lousy service.

Government really needs to hold these telecom companies accountable to provide better and more reliable service to their customers, even if it means threatening to revoke their licenses.

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Posted by J. Payne 6 months, 3 weeks ago: Not take back the licenses! But issue new ones! The more licenses handed out, the more competitive the market will become. Companies will have to operating on increasingly razor thin profit margins, and such things as major outages would be enough to sway customers from one carrier to a next. Also, in order to usher in full liberalisation, the authority needs to get rid of company-company fees within Barbados. If I have a pre-paid mobile phone from brand x and I call another Barbadian with brand y, why should I pay more for that call than a brand y to brand y call? Phone companies in Barbados shouldn't be able to charge competitors anymore to inter-connect than they charge themselves! Put an ad in the London Times paper that more licenses will be handed out in Barbados and make them work for what they want. More carriers would mean less customers per carrier and would force the bad ones off the island quicker.

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Posted by TAK. TAK. 6 months, 3 weeks ago: The time has long passed for Government to take action against these telecom companies who are
charging exorbitant fees for very poor service.One of
these companies also has two cell towers which have
been without the red lighted beacons for many months,and I have informed them about these towers and nothing has been done.It is very sad that
some establishments are allowed to do as they please
in Barbados.The Telecoms unit must check on these
unlighted cell towers.

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Posted by J. Payne 6 months, 3 weeks ago: Government has take some blame. It has been way too slow to issue new licenses. I sorry to call names but why has Sunbeach never utilized their mobile license? Furthermore, more licenses should have been issued from de time Cingular Wireless (USA) merged their Barbados operations with Digicel in Barbados. Jamaican authorities had issued other license, but Barbados didn't! Since Claro and Digicel have merged operations again too, Jamaica has said they might issue more licenses again to make sure their market remains competitive.