Today was that famous final scene at Intelco headquarters on the Northern Highway as CEO, Chairman and owner, Glen Godfrey pulled the plug on an operation that has been on life support for months.
Tonight, there is no support for the final 50 employees who were fired as the doors were closed. 7NEWS was on the scene when Godfrey went to deliver the bad news.
Alfonso Noble Reporting,
It started in 2002 and now 24 months and US$50 million later, the dream that was Intelco was expunged in a matter of seconds.
This afternoon Intelco’s CEO and Chairman Glenn Godfrey seen here leaving in this gold Nissan Pathfinder gathered the remainder of Intelco’s staff here at mile 1 on the Northern Highway to tell them “I’m sorry folks, we’re closing.” With that he gathered a few things and left the building for an office across the road at his Data Pro Compound.
It’s the end of a sorry chapter in telecommunications history and the sorriest are those 50 or so employees who are now jobless. At the end of all this two things are clear: Intelco has still not been sold and much of its debt remains a public liability guaranteed by Social Security Board. There is no competition in phone business.
All this means that regardless of what you may have been told, in September of 2004 you can’t think of doing this. [Referring to Intelco Billboard]
In total 47 workers were terminated. 15 of them will be given contract work by BTL when it takes over Intelco. As we noted, that sale is still in transfer and it seems BTL owner Jeffrey Prosser is having trouble accessing the capital to close the deal. When he does come through with the cash, Glenn Godfrey will have to parse through his many credit obligations to find money for a severance package for his workers who had to go home without a check on the guarantee that Godfrey will pay them at the end of the month.