Wednesday, March 10, 2010A New Voice

Kaletha HenryInterview With Jose Luis Fernandez

These colors are symbolic of CCT Global Communications (CCT) logo – a BVI telecommunications company established in 1986 as CCT Boatphone – that are seen throughout their branding, strewn across buildings and plastered on paraphernalia at sponsored events.

Since joining the company in 2008, Fernandez, the General Manager of CCT and a seasoned telecommunications executive in his homeland of Spain and the United States, has made it a priority to improve the company’s image and service capabilities.

Prior to moving to the Caribbean, he was accustomed to overseeing telecommunications divisions within companies. That level of exposure has made his arrival at CCT a solid one.

Steps towards Progress
Anyone residing in the territory prior to the arrival of CCT’s competitors, Digicel and LIME, will likely recall the morose days encountered by the telecommunications provider.

For several years, disgruntled customers were known for expressing their dissatisfaction about CCT in regards to their products, services, dropped calls, poor coverage, and lack of options to join other carriers.
However, in the past year and a half, some of the noise has settled and CCT has been able to slowly return to the ring.

Fernandez is now at the helm and his expertise has allowed him to make decisions within a company some associated with low achievements.

In a fastidious culture that was unfamiliar to him, he’s been able to engage an overhaul in the company’s marketing, product placement, service, and reliability; including the 70 percent addition of new sites on Tortola and a viable expansion on the Anegada site. By examining the past errors, Fernandez and his staff of 50 knew it wouldn’t be easy to project a new CCT, but it was also a task that inevitably needed to be done.

A lot of revamping would need to occur in order to convey a supreme product in the minds of the public, and in the minds of potential and existing customers. In addition to improving their image and product base, CCT has also had to propel itself into the color spectrum of recognition to either beat or match the color presence of Digicel’s “red” and LIME’s “green.”

Fernandez grabbed the reins to create a range of products he describes as unmatchable. Within the past year, the company introduced a Freedom Plan, noted by the General Manager as one of the most competitive voice plans on the market that includes unlimited worldwide text messaging, unlimited international long distance, and unlimited cross network calling. “Through the Freedom Plan, we have changed the rules of the telecommunications market.” CCT has made so many changes that Fernandez expects the competitors to follow suit.

“We have improved our network big time and we have launched a number of services. By far we are the biggest innovator in terms of products and services.”

Although Fernandez will not disclose the company’s number of subscribers, he will acknowledge that CCT has grown significantly over the past year and a half.

In relation to how CCT ranks amongst their competitors, Fernandez is eager to shed light on that position. “Based on the effort and all the things that we have implemented last year, our understanding is that CCT is leading in the market at this moment in the BVI.”

The Biggest Changes
Fernandez says the biggest benefits in selecting CCT over any other telecommunications brand boils down to quality service and products, island-wide coverage, convenience in terms of territory coverage, cheapest rates in the BVI and the biggest range of products and services in terms of voice and data.

Customers and potential subscribers may also find pricing to be a plus. CCT offers a simple transparent price structure that remains the same cost at all times of the day. Unlike other carriers, the user doesn’t have to worry about being charged a higher rate for daytime against evening and weekend usage. “The customer always knows what they’re paying,” Fernandez highlights.

CCT’s roaming rates have also become competitive. With more than 200 roaming agreements in their pocket, CCT customers can use their phone while in the U.S., Europe, Africa, Latin America, and the U.K. for 49 cents per minute. “We offer customers a piece of mind that they will be covered. When you travel to the U.S. you pay 49 cents a minute to call back home, to make calls in the U.S. or to receive a call from somebody that called you. This is by far the lowest roaming rate offered by any service provider in the BVI,” Fernandez outlined.

The company also hosts a range of data services that allow their customers to have supreme Internet mobility, Wi-Fi capabilities, and local hosting.

Vision and Future Steps
In the rapid age of changing technology and product advancements, Fernandez wants to take CCT into the direction of innovation. By understanding the inevitable changes that usually come with growth, he feels CCT is well positioned to present current and potential customers with a wide range of telecommunications services, faster internet connections and by continuing to provide top notch products.

Although Fernandez was not in the BVI from CCT’s inception, he has come to learn the company’s past reputation as being a poor network and lacking response to customer’s needs. “One of the main challenges at this moment… we have been working very hard to improve the network and taking into account where they’re [the customer] coming from. The most important thing is to be able to change the perception of the potential customer. We need to communicate this fact and make sure that both the potential customer and the existing customer understands this.”

In advertising, a company’s image and message rests on the success of how the image is created and in what manner the message is distributed. A word, headline, or graphic can boost a company into the stratosphere of success or it can push a company to its downfall. In Fernandez’s view, the answer to removing CCT’s past image lays in the proper handling of all present and future expectations.

In so doing, perception will be the biggest key. It will take time for everyone to realize that CCT is better. “If you travel around the BVI, you will notice a huge improvement in areas like Sea Cows Bay, Pockwood Pond, Carrot Bay, the airport, and Road Town. You will see and hear the huge improvement. Our network is similar to or better than any other network in the territory.”

When in doubt, just look for orange and cyan.

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