PHILIPSBURG:--- UTS Eastern Caribbean, as part of a strategic approach for 2015 and beyond, will refocus and reshape its attention on French St. Maarten in an effort to grow the customer base on the Northern side of the side premised primarily on service and its "one network" advantages.
To lead these efforts, the company appointed Kathia Magdeleine as Branch Manager for its operations in French St. Maarten and St. Barths as per October 1. Magdeleine has been with the company for the past six years and brings a wealth of experience to the function.
Her telecom background is rooted in the former East Caribbean Cellular company where she handled customer care, technical aspects for that company and established ECC's stellar reputation for customer service. She is also fluent in French having attended school on the French side and proficient in French telecom laws and regulations.
Her task now is to grow UTS's business in these two French territories as the company continues to expand into new markets and grow in the region. By her own admission she said she leads a "small team, but very good team and still growing so we can become more competitive and efficient to serve our customers on the French side and St. Barths better."
The focus for UTS on the French side has been primarily to facilitate island wide coverage (2G & 3G) for its customer base on the Dutch side. Management recognized that shifting this focus to being more competitive among the providers on the French side, required investment in technology upgrades, enhancing 3G services and acquiring the spectrum frequency for LTE for eventual LTE 4G. LTE, or Long-Term Evolution, commonly marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals.
"Our approach has been very strategic thus far when looking at our competitors on the French side. We can't divulge too many details until the official launch of new activities, but we have a very strategic plan of action to compete if not supersede the services of our competitors," Magdeleine said, adding that snap surveys has been conducted early in 2014, again recently and are ongoing. "We have a good idea of market trends and customer needs and what make them choose us over the competitors," she said.
Management of UTS Eastern Caribbean believes that every provider can purchase the same equipment to provide similar service. However, says CEO of UTS Eastern Caribbean Glen Carty, "technology will not be our only success. In 2015 we want to make sure we are always the innovator introducing the latest technology, but boils down to service.
"We will take advantage of our position (operationally) in the North Eastern Caribbean. We are located on almost every island in this region with the exception of Anguilla which is coming soon. No matter which island our customers are on, they will be subscribed as a Chippie customer able to utilize the same technologies and the same customer service. For example, if you are a business person on the French side who goes to the Dutch side for business, we will convince you and our service will show that your best choice will be to use French Chippie simply because it will be one network (Dutch and French)," he said.
Carty said that although UTS will be going after its competitors customer bases, the company will not get into a pricing war. Pricing, he stressed, will be market conformed but emphasis will be on providing a quality product.
UTS Press Release
