Digicel CEO Responds To Logic Complaint
Digicel CEO Wayne Caines has responded to reports that Logic has filed a complaint with Bermuda Regulatory Authority [RA] regarding their ‘Free Internet Promotion,” saying their “competitors are free to make a similar offer available.”
Mr. Caines said, “I wish to respond to the recent news broadcast which reported that Logic has filed a complaint with Bermuda Regulatory Authority [RA] regarding our ‘Free Internet Promotion.’ Logic’s assertion is that Digicel’s offer is predatory and anticompetitive. Digicel totally disagrees with this assertion.
“Our offer is simple and fair: any new customer who signs up for a Digicel Postpaid voice and/or data plan valued at $100 or more per month may choose to receive 12 months of free Digicel Internet [6 Mb] for their home. Our competitors are free to make a similar offer available.
“We find it incredulous that KeyTech who is the parent company for 5 companies in Bermuda and is affiliated with 3 other Bermuda companies all of which operate in the telecommunications sector would accuse Digicel of predatory and anticompetitive behavior. It is especially incredulous considering that KeyTech has control over so many of the telecommunications services available in this small market.
“Before Digicel entered the ISP market Logic and Northrock were pricing 6Mbps service for $119.95. Digicel is now providing that same 6Mbps for just $50 per month. Furthermore, our current promotion provides customers an effective rate of just $25 per month over two years for 6Mbps home internet service. This is almost an 80% drop in the cost of internet in just 3 years. Digicel is proud to have brought this value to Bermuda and makes no apologies for it.
“We believe that consumers should not be prevented from availing of our “Free Internet Promotion.” Consumers should have freedom of choice and this freedom should not be interfered with by by KeyTech. KeyTech already controls over eight telecommunications providers in Bermuda and they have no right to dictate our business activities as well.
“It is not our desire to enter into litigation with any entity. Digicel will gladly cooperate with the RA. We will do what is necessary to defend our promotion that serves the sole purpose of providing greater value for Bermuda customers.
“We stood for value in 2005 when we first introduced affordable cellular services. We stood for value again in 2011 when we introduced more affordable home internet services. We will continue to stand for value for our customers so that all of Bermuda can benefit,” concluded Mr. Caines.
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Wayne Caines is right, and Logic are sounding like the anticompeitive ones here. If Bermuda is a free market, then Digicel should able to offer whatever promotion it likes for its products. In response, and as Caines pointed out, Logic must compete for their customers, either on price or quality. I hope Logic’s complaint is thrown out on the merits of competition and free markets alone. If they have confidence in the quality of their product, then they should not be afraid of any promotion by Digicel.
Yes, but there are regulations which dodgycell should abide by just like everyone else….. Anyone thinking of signing up for this “special” … Please read the fine print…. It’s not the deal you think!!… In fact there are better deals in the long run out there, take your time an shop around!! Wayne… Ready for March 1st?
Nope, it’s a free market. I see no need for regulations. The fine print is there for everyone to read. Given perfect information, consumers should read and decide whether or not to subscribe to the promotion or not. No need for any Government interference here. Let business do business.
As someone said below:
“The problem is that Digicel do not have the fixed costs for the infrastructure that Logic and KeyTech have. Digicel just piggy back off of existing infrastructure and other companies have to make this available to them, due to the competition regulations. Sadly this means that Digicel can cut their prices to customers without a major effect on their bottom line profits….Logic cannot do the same.
If Logic and KeyTech go down, do you really think that Digicel can pick up the slack and take on those fixed costs and keep customer prices low? No way!!”
The Government is already deeply involved here – if they were to step out altogether – ridiculous.
rubbish, did logic offer the ppl and breaks when they where the dominant internet providers, shut up logic, your service sucks
And do you work at Logic or CellOne?
They made a fair point, if you sign up and break those contracts you can be on the hook for $750 termination fee. ($500 postpaid data/voice and $250 for internet).
Sound like you work for a competing company. I don’t see what’s wrong with this offer. Both mobile providers lock customers in to 2 year (voice AND data) contracts just to get a couple hundred dollars off of a cellphone. With Digicel’s offer, there is no device. If you pay $100 or more on mobile service (which many of us do who have a data plan), then you can get a year of free home Internet at 6Mb and then pay the current price of $50/month after. As Mr. Caines said, that’s an effective rate of $25 for two years for 6Mb of home Internet. The only way this offer doesn’t make sense is if you think that in 13 months, the cost of a 6Mb plan will be less than $25.
I think KeyTech needs to get creative and start competing for business. They’ve gouged for years and are now crying because they aren’t making as much money. I’d like to know where all that revenue they were making for decades has gone. It doesn’t seem to have been reinvested in Bermuda (ie. infrastructure). My guess is that a large chunk of that money was given to shareholders.
Keep it up, Digicel (and others)! Competition is good.
Keep up the Competition Digicel, well done Mr. Caines. I look forward to prices going down even more. Competition is good, let the price wars begin.
Who cares…..?
I care
Great job DIGICEL
Great COMPETITIVE move by Digicel !! For many many years others have made millions hand over fist.
Digicel’s ISP is easily swallowed by the prices they charge for other things…
NOTHING is Free in this world!
This is what happens when monopolies are being broken. Get with the times internet worldwide is not as expensive anymore, we need more competition so in the end CONSUMERS can truly benefit!
If logic feels that they’re loosing out, o well. They must be doing something wrong. I’m no fan of digihell but this is what happens in the competitive world logic.
Anyway Logic if you’re not making money remember your other family of companies are so it don’t matter.
We now have cell1 and link Bermuda now offering home Internet too. Are you complaining about that to logic?
Logic needs to look at the real picture because people might be moving away from them because their service might suck.
Also logic read digihell’s fine print. It’s not really free plus it’s 6megs. Get a life.
Thank you Digicel for being competitive!! Logic doesn’t like competition. Logic would love to keep the prices high for their own benefit.
Very clever Mr. Caines. This article smells of free advertising for Digicel. The picture you paint makes your company look as though it’s the Island’s savior; however, once you’ve bamboozled people into thinking they’ve hit the jackpot with your ‘free’ talk, how will you treat them? All these grand gestures lead to a hollow experience with Digicel at best. It’s suffice to say that price isn’t everything. And that goes for all the companies.
I have no love for either company…Logic aka keytech had their turn for over 100 yrs of monopoly status. digicel are small market predators that practice unsustainable marketing techniques based on price. RA should sort this out easily….every hear of predatory pricing?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predatory_pricing
If Logic thinks this is competition, wait until Link Bermuda is running at full steam!
Thanks Digicel you helped to bring down the prices before ,let them come down some more. You are looking more and more like the CO. I should switch to. Keytech is showing their greed let them eat cake.The RA should let other Companies offer services that do not require payment to BTC as well.
For the most part – Bermuda is still operating like the 70′s and 80′s —–
Thats why we see all this back fire when something like this is introduced —– well done Digicel’
Sorry, I have to respond to the critics. Someone mentioned the fine print and that this is not really a good offer.
My son works for digicel and he told me how the offer works. there is no bait and switch. there are no tricks or gimmicks.
its basically a 50% sale where you pay nothing for one year and then regular price the next. Yes, you do need to sign up for a phone plan and that’s not asking for much in return. Unless you don’t want a cell phone service. this I guess this promotion is not for you…
Proud of my son and proud of Digicel.
….And your bill has to be $100 or more to apply (for existing customers)
one of the oldest marketing Tools know to Mankind/Womankind
Bait and Switch. rreel you in and Get you, like Nuffin stated
it is easliy asorbed in out ares and Nuffin is Free,,I repeat
there is no Free Lunch Served Today !
such a buzz kill. is every sale a bait and switch to you?
talk about a negative nancy…treat yourself to a latte at buzz…nevermind, you probably think they are scamming you too..
Well done Digicel. We need more competition, not less
what i would like to see is that we can get are internet service at one place. we don’t have to shop around and get internet from two people from keytech and tbi cellone. i think its unfair that keytech has the monopoly on internet line
You can get the internet access itself AND the internet service from one place now. Logic do a bundle so you do not pay BTC and Logic separately, but pay all in one.
The fine print is, you have to sign a 2 year contract and if you try and cancel it could cost you up to $750…
If you don’t mind signing a contract, the Digicel offer sounds like a good deal to me. This is competition! Logic & CellOne are owned by the same company… surely they can partner and offer something similar. They would just *prefer* to keep charging the high prices they’ve been charging rather than matching the competition. Remember when Digicel first offered internet and the other companies complained? It wasn’t because they *couldn’t* compete (as we can all see them competing now and all our prices have come down because of it!) but because they *didn’t want to*.
The problem is that Digicel do not have the fixed costs for the infrastructure that Logic and KeyTech have. Digicel just piggy back off of existing infrastructure and other companies have to make this available to them, due to the competition regulations. Sadly this means that Digicel can cut their prices to customers without a major effect on their bottom line profits….Logic cannot do the same.
If Logic and KeyTech go down, do you really think that Digicel can pick up the slack and take on those fixed costs and keep customer prices low? No way!!
So much for the glimmering hope that our internet rate-to-speed ratio improves, because these companies are using a lot of their profits getting their lawyers rich..
Although I am definitely up for competition to make services in Bermuda better, I am skeptical on this home internet service. I’d wait and see just how SLOW the service is (don’t forget – just because you have a 6mbps line does NOT mean that you will get that service) – but actually, yes, you should all switch over to Digicel, which means my service provider’s speeds increase overall =)
I think this offer is just as Mr. Caines states, simple and fair. The competitors are free to make a similar offer available to consumers. This free internet promotion is here to take advantage of and if it helps lower the overall price of internet service on the island, seems like a good thing to me.
Did anyone else notice that he said Logic and NR were charging $119 for 6Mb and they brought those prices down? My memory is good enough to know that this is exactly the price Digi/Transact charged for it until TBI stepped in and started lowering their prices, forcing reaction from competitors.
Logic service sucks bigtime!
I am paying for 8MB service and the latest speedtest returned only 34mbps as the download speed! I have logged issue with help desk days ago and no response from help desk!
Bring on the competition – maybe once people move to Digicel or another service Logic will pay attention to service!?
And never had this problem when Northrock was on its own – bigger is not better when it comes to service!