If you watch the ads on this newscast – especially the ones for phone companies – you’ll know that since the takeover of BTL on August 24th the competition between BTL and SMART has taken on an entirely different tone. Whereas before the takeover it was casual, now the competition is head on – with each company offering previously unheard of discounts and deals to get your phone dollars. And while BTL is the dominant provider in the market, it has been on the back foot so to speak – because SMART’s growth has been almost exponential – expanding its base of cell phone users with annual double digit growth while BTL’s growth has been steady but unremarkable.
But that was under what we now know was a managed competition regime – with each company being controlled by the same interests. But now, an energized BTL has been taking on SMART - and it went for its competitors heart today with a program that invited phone users to ditch their smart phones and get a comparable BTL one for 29 dollars. It’s unheard of – but did it work? We found out today.
Keith Swift Reporting,
There were long lines and it was a long wait for the crush of Smart customers who were jammed inside BTL’s Church Street office.
Keith Swift,
“How long have you been waiting here?”
Customer #1,
“From morning, from nine o’clock.”
Keith Swift,
“But you’re still waiting.”
Customer #1,
“Well I soon reach the line.”
Keith Swift,
“How long have you been waiting?”
Customer #2,
“About an hour waiting.”
Customer #3,
“From this morning I sent my wife to come in here and she came to change about three Smart phones and she says she has been here since then pretty
much. I’ve been to the health center this morning and I came back and she was still here.”
And that is because it was a four step process. Customers first had to surrender their Smart phones – and most people had more than one. They then had to choose a new phone, after which they met with a customers service rep who then sent them to the cashier and finally they get to ditch their Smart phones and get a new BTL phone. Definitely not an in and out procedure, but for some customers – the wait didn’t matter.
Customer #1,
“I came to trade in my friends’ phones for them.”
Keith Swift,
“Why are you making the switch?”
Customer #1,
“Because some of the rates come up cheaper now. First Smart used to give you more…most young people text right and so now most of we the switch because they have more promotion for the text.”
Customer #4,
“Sometimes the Smart doesn’t work good. Sometimes it doesn’t want to go through. So if I want to make an emergency call I can’t call right away and I’ll have to wait a little while and then after that I could call.”
Keith Swift,
“But which is cheaper to you?”
Customer #4,
“Well basically right now I don’t know how Digicell rates the go, I know how Smart rates the go and to me I use my Smart a lot and I have credit and then when I use Digicell sometimes my Digicell credits goes down but basically right now just texting so I will save with Digicell.”
BTL’s Public Relations Executive says they expected the rush.
Lynette Canto, BTL
“We knew that there would have been an interest and we had been getting feedback from the districts all week that people have been going in, asking about the promotion, wanting to see the phones. So we anticipated a crowd.”
No final figures are in yet. A BTL Rep says they will be tallying the exact number of switches they made today long into the night. BTL isn’t sure what it will do with the Smart phones they collected. But the other cell phone company isn’t the least bit worried. Smart’s public relations officer Ian Courtenay told us this evening that they aren’t concerned and that they will be able over come the losses today. He says they had promotions earlier in the week and customers didn’t have to trade in cell phones.
