LIME to bundle popular products with faltering fixed line service
Published:Friday | February 10, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Mobile and broadband offers the greatest scope for business growth, but LIME Jamaica still earns most of its cash from its fixed line operations, according to president Garfield Sinclair.
Broadbank and fixed line services account for up to 70 per cent of gross margins, Sinclair said; fixed line alone is 51 per cent.
But LIME expects that the latter business will continue to decline in line with market preference for wireless services.
"Fixed line is in structural decline because of mobile substitution," Sinclair told the Financial Gleaner. "We are losing that customer base," he said.
LIME has put in place a 'churn management' programme to mitigate the fallout over time.
It includes a plan to bundle popular services with fixed-line products, including international plans, and a new service called 'Browse & Talk' which links free fixed line talk time to broadband.
A more ambitious bundle is now being designed to incorporate mobile TV, but Sinclair said he it was too early to disclose the details.
Half of LIME's fixed-line subscription comes from businesses. Demand in that segment is expected to remain steady because companies tend to "want the stability of a fixed number system," said the telecoms head. Wireless, he said, does not offer the same reliability.
The company's broadband is profitable, and has even more scope to grow, he said. Broadband penetration is just at 18 per cent.
LIME has rolled out its Fibre-to-the-Home service in five parishes already to position for more broadband business, in competition with Flow Jamaica.
See related interview with Garry Sinclair.