SUNBEACH COMMUNICATIONS Inc. is gearing up for major expansion as its new owners, VTel Holdings, aim to put their
stamp on the local telecommunications industry.

However, according to a source at the company, the decision was taken at the recently held first official board of directors meeting to postpone the rollout of its new cellular service until other priority issues were addressed.

The Sunbeach representative said while the cellular plans had definitely not been shelved, the board had decided to focus first on strengthening its Internet services, expanding the staff complement and relocating to more spacious headquarters.

A Press release issued by the Internet service provider last week said the meeting, the first one with new chairman Sonny Sharma since the takeover last year, was primarily devoted to finalising the new strategic business plan for the company.

"We fully recognise the value in Sunbeach. We understand the challenges the company had in the past and we are putting
in place the resources that are needed to address these," said Sharma, chief operating officer of VTel Holdings.

The release added Sunbeach planned to recruit a "significant amount" of new team members shortly and was "actively working" with a recruitment agency to find staff for their finance, operations, technical and sales divisions.

It also said that the company was working towards finalising its moving contracts over the next two weeks.

(CH/PR)