Guyana’s unemployment will rise with Digicel’s firings

The Caribbean territory stands to be affected as corporate telecommunications giant Digicel gears up to slash its global workforce by 25 per cent.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Digicel Guyana, Kevin Kelly, could not immediately pronounce on whether or not local employees will be affected in the global cut.

Kelly on Friday said Digicel will provide more information in due time.

Earlier this month, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT) Company

announced that it will be laying off some 1200 workers over the next 12 months as part of its restructuring initiative in staying competitive in the modern technological era.

However, the Guyana Postal and Telecommunication Workers’ Union (GPTWU) – which represents the majority of the workers – has committed to take ‘rigid’ action to protect the interests of its members.

Meanwhile, a press statement from Digicel said it will be reducing the number of its regional hubs; a move which could ultimately result in workers in Caribbean territories, including Guyana becoming redundant.

According to the company, the future organisational structure will comprise a small number of regional hubs (two for the Caribbean and Central America regions and two for the Pacific region) housing back office centralised functions and delivering shared services, allowing staff in Digicel’s 31 markets to focus on sales and enhanced service delivery – and ensuring that resources and investment are prioritised to drive competition and innovation.

Digicel noted that this shift will result in an approximate 25 per cent (1500) reduction of the global workforce over the next 18 months with the first step in the process being the offer of an Enhanced Voluntary Separation Programme opening on March 1, 2017.

These changes are all part of Digicel’s 2030 global transformation programme which promises customers a completely new communications and entertainment experience made possible by a more agile, customer-centric application of resources and investment.

Digicel also announced that it has signed a global partnership agreement with ZTE – a leading global provider of integrated telecommunication solutions – for an ongoing multiyear network upgrade programme.

These initiatives occur as telecoms providers across the globe move to benefit from significant technological advances and manage changing customer needs in terms of data usage and competitive threats from unregulated OTT operators.

Digicel becomes one of the first communications and entertainment providers in the world to initiate a wide scale transformation agenda. The core elements of the Digicel 2030 transformation see it undertaking a complete re-design of its organisational structure; putting customers in control and making a commitment to deliver a superior superfast network experience.

Over the last three years, Digicel has invested over US$1.65 billion in upgrading its networks and platforms and in rolling out fibre to the home and mobile broadband connectivity. Of particular note is the success of its fibre to the home offering with Digicel racking up 120,000 customers to date – well ahead of its business plan.