LIME a paragon of efficiency - The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

I'm your biggest fan

I'll follow you till you love me

Papa, Paparazzi    

Baby there is no other superstar you know than of me

Papa, Papa, Paparazzi

Promise I’ll be kind

But I won't stop until that boy is mine

Baby you'll be famous

Chase you down till you love me

Papa, Papa, Paparazzi

Excerpt from the song Paparazzi by Lady Gaga

Telecom Provider LIME is finally getting with the flow and is finally rolling out 3G island wide, having only initially launched in Kingston and the Metropolitan and now confirmed reports in The Jamaica Gleaner stating that they are expanding to Montego Bay, the Second City.

Much to the delight of MBCCI (Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry) past president and man-about-town, Mark Kerr-Jarrett, the newly minted Telecom Provider LIME Board Member as stated in the article “LIME to build US$40m 3G Network for Montego Bay”, published Sunday June 27, 2010, by Janeta Silvera, The Sunday Gleaner.

The prognostications of LIME Country Manager, Geoff Houston for Montego Bay sound as bright and as cheery as a Telecom Provider’s Tower.

To quote LIME Country Manager, Geoff Houston’s own words, “We are making huge investments in upgrading all our networks in the west, rolling out 3G, more broadband and more fixed lines by Christmas”. Christmas, John Public balks? By then the 3G revolution would have passed and we would be looking at 4G!

Did not Telecom Provider LIME launch 3G with much fanfare in September 2008? Its now 2010 and they only have coverage in Kingston Metropolitan areas alone. Meanwhile Telecom Provider CLARO has sprouted wings and is already island wide in a year, shoddy workmanship and unpaid workers and illegal constructions aside.

Telecom Provider LIME is moving a bit too slow, even sums of money it pandered to Ericsson, three billion dollars (US$3,000,00,000) just to do an upgrading of its island wide network infrastructure seem to be a bit of an overspend, as Contractors are a wasteful bunch who do not have the tedium to practice efficiency in doing their work.

Perhaps they need to read my blog article on the necessity of Alternative energy entitled “Alternative Energy - A Telecom Provider's Strong Tower”, “Alternative Energy and Helix - A Test case for wind Power for Telecom Providers” and “Alternative energy and Telecom Providers - An Environmental Marketing Strategy”.

Meanwhile, Telecom Provider CLARO came to Jamaica and in one fell swoop, Telecom Provider C&WJ rebranded itself with new armour in the guise of Telecom Provider LIME.

A rather “sour” now so sweet acronym that beckons us to embrace the now awakened Landline, Internet, Mobile and Entertainment service, which has thus far been a success as reported in the article “LIME reporting better business since rebranding”, published Sunday, 22 March 2009, The Jamaica Gleaner with dramatic improvements in efficiency.

The people in Trinidad do not relate well to the Telecom Provider LIME brand and there are complaints that the name does not properly reflect Jamaican culture as stated in the article “New LIME brand fails to recognize Jamaica's uniqueness - shareholders”, published Friday July 31, 2009, by Mark Titus, The Jamaica Gleaner, despite achieving stated aims of business efficiency albeit with no engineering efficiency.

What can I say, I have a LIME Postpaid Mobile Phone and I am possibly their biggest fan. Between lawsuits such as “LIME suing Digicel for US$3.8 billion for overcharges”, published Friday, 04 September 2009, TechJamaica, LIME has launched much coveted smartphones from RIM (Research in Motion) namely:

1. The Blackberry Curve 8900 as stated in the article “LIME launches the Blackberry Curve 8900 Smartphones with Free Service Offer”, published February 10 2010 by BlackBerryCool
2. The Blackberry Storm as stated in the article “LIME introduces the Blackberry Storm to customers in Jamaica”, published Friday, 17 April 2009 by TechJamaica.

Strides have also been made in terms of efficiency as it relates to top up methods as Telecom Provider LIME makes improvements in terms of its service delivery, such as the launch of their new Self Top Up service as stated in the article “Text Top Up - A Caribbean first from LIME”, published Wednesday, 03 March 2010, by TechJamaica.

Probably the most significant Telecom Provider LIME footnote is the case involving Telecom Provider Digicel and Telecom Provider LIME from 2002 and Telecom Provider Digicel’s claim that cross network rates are set by the Telecoms Provider’s which Telecom Provider LIME disputed and won when the case finally reached the Privy Council as stated in the article “LIME wins US$340 million payment as London Privy council throws out Digicel Appeal”, published Thursday, 21 January 2010 by TechJamaica.

This case could lead to another type of most desired efficiency, that being MNP (Mobile Number Portability). Thus to complete the transformation, all they need is to change out their old air conditioning systems for new modern energy efficient ones, disconnect water supplies to these exchanges (who lives in an exchange anyway?), and eventually make a commitment to move their network off the grid altogether using Solar and Wind Power.

Changing their RBS (Remote Base Stations) from mobile to Ericsson and their landline switch to a FiOS based Switch from Ericsson would be a wise move, especially as Ericsson has purchased Nortel and thus would be in a position to basically take over the portfolios of previous users of the Canadian based Telecoms Vendor’s  Equipment, as stated in the article “Ericsson wins Nortel's NorthAmerica GSM Unit”, published November 25, 2009 6:38 AM PST by Lance Whitney, CNET News - Wireless.

This is signed and sealed in the article “Ericsson to pay US1.33 billion for Nortel Wireless Tech”, published July 25, 2009 1:56 PM PDT by Natalie Weinstein, CNET News – Wireless, (http://www.cnet.com). 

The only disappointment that John Public registers is their slowness in coming out with 3G Internet and the above promised MNP, even the call by Senator Phillip Paulwell, Opposition Spokespersons on Telecoms ring hollow as stated in the article “Paulwell calls for number portability”, published Wednesday  April 21, 2010 by Daraine Luton, The Jamaica Gleaner.

This is something that John Public would truly stand up for and cheer. 3G has the potential to be bigger than wire based ADSL as if usage patterns in the United States of America are anything to go by, once the performance and the price is right as stated in the article “Can 4G wireless take on traditional broadband?”, published March 22, 2010 4:00 AM PDT by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - CTIA 2010

Prior speculation to the contrary not withstanding as stated in the article “Will 4G Wireless Really Threaten Wires?”, published August 13, 2009, 8:22PM EST By Stacey Higginbotham, Business Week – GigaOM.

Bridging technologies make speeds such as HSDPA+ make 20MBps as possible in Canada on Telecom Provider Rogers Wireless possible and Japan’s Telecom Provider NTT DoCoMo possible, so an immediate push towards LTE (Long Term Evolution) is not necessary.

With Telecom Provider CLARO possibly soon to launch the Netbook killer in the form of the Apple iPad as well as an Apple iPhone refresh (Apple iPhone 3GS or Apple iPhone 4G with iPhone 4.0 OS??) as stated in the article “Will iPhone 4.0 derail Microsoft's phone plans?”, published April 9, 2010 10:24 AM PDT by Ina Fried, CNET News - Beyond Binary.

Telecom Provider LIME’s launch of a one (1) day, seven (7) day and thirty (30) day pass on their 3G network as stated in the article “LIME Launches PrePaid Mobile Internet Services”, published Friday, April 09, 2010, The Jamaica Observer

This is an early sign of a now re-energized Telecom Provider LIME that is ready to come to the market to shake up the dominance of Telecom Provider CLARO with a most generous discount of JA$1500, half of the plan cost of Telecom Provider CLARO.

Thus Telecom Provider LIME’s best bet to get back into the game would be the introduction of low cost smart phones, as Telecom Provider CLARO has the iconic Apple iPhone and Telecom Provider Digicel has the Blackberry market cornered.

Perhaps something in the Google Android camp, seeing a how most Mobile  Equipment Vendors have gone Android as stated in the article “Sony Ericsson shows love for Android”, published February 14, 2010 6:18 PM PST by Marguerite Reardon CNET News - 3GSM blog.

This was earlier forecast in the article "Analysts predict bold growth for Google Android", published January 25, 2010 2:18 PM PST by Marguerite Reardon, CNET News - Signal Strength

This is now confirmed by statistical analysis by ComScore in the article “Google Android growth outpacing the industry”, published April 5, 2010 2:36 PM PDT by Tom Krazit, CNET News - Relevant Results.

With built in 3G and Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11n) built into the phones, the sale of 3G-to-Wi-Fi Routers would be a good fit to the arsenal of Telecom Provider LIME, especially as Telecom Provider Digicel is a yet to reveal its hand…………and I will follow Telecom Provider LIME till they love me………. Papa, Paparazzi.