Digicel Dominica and the Government of Dominica have signed a 15 year contract for telecommunication services valued at over $200 million.
The contract was signed at a ceremony held at the St Alphonsus Parish Hall in Goodwill on Monday.
“Today is indeed very historic in the telecommunications sector since for the first time over 50 years that an alternative telecommunications service provider, apart from the incumbent has been awarded a contract to provide telecommunications services to the government of Dominica ,” Deputy Prime Minister Reginald Austrie said while addressing the ceremony.
According to him, this is a clear indication that the government decision-making process is in keeping with the principles of transparency and non-discriminatory with an award being made on merit, prophecy and established protocol.
Austrie indicated that five corporate entities submitted bids for this project and after a very competitive bidding process, “we are here today with the winning bidder, Digicel, and to announce the commencement of a 15-year relationship.”
“We are satisfied that Digicel will provide the government of Dominica with a range of quality services approved in the contract and deliver a very robust, resilient, high capacity and smart network to meet the growing telecommunications [needs] within the public service and to the Dominican public,” he stated.
Austrie further stated that the government is excited about the economic impact this new Digicel network will have on the economic development and growth of Dominica.
“With this network, every sector of the economy will be positively impacted, particularly the health sector, with the enhanced use of telemedicine services, education, with the introduction of an E-education hub for all primary and secondary schools and students of this country, agriculture through improved efficiency, the link to farmers to market and structured prices, tourism, WiFi services installed at strategic locations including public spaces, like the airport and tourism sites…” he noted.
However, a 15-year relationship will have it challenges, Austrie said, but he is confident that the parties will use their best initiatives through the development of a harmonious relationship and will provide for avenues to resolve issues which arise from time-to-time.
Meantime, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Digicel Dominica, Nikima Royer-Jno Baptiste, said all government sites will be connected to a new high speed resilient fibre optic backed up through two on-island and one off-island data centre.
“Every single government structure will be connected to the fastest and most reliable digital network,” she said.
Royer-Jno Baptiste added that government will be initially introducing several cutting edge ICT initiatives in Dominica which includes CCTV monitoring, including facial and license plate recognition, “contributing significantly to the safety of all Dominicans and visitors to our country.”
On January 26th, 2018, the government of Dominica published a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the rebuilding and provisioning of Telecommunication and ITC Services to the government. The Request sought a comprehensive package of services including Telephony, Internet, Data and other ICT- related products and services to all government facilities on the island while ensuring a robust, redundant and resilient technical infrastructure capable of ensuring business continuity after any natural disaster.
Monday’s signing is the culmination of this RFP process.
Lime and flow….are all snooring….digi is at there door without notice knocking…😐 and they never expected……great job PM…..they are cristal clear and clean.. never like b4….TCL…or TCL…i am pleased…..
Flow…has been laying like Ambrose to low.. got a real knock out….even with small profit….digicel is on d run all the time….once u turn they will take u….like Jamaica and haiti.. .
They are not at all asleep…i love what it is….cable and flow need to invested into Dominica big time……really…i just really love it…do u know Digi not finish yet? One more year they will fix them……i love what competition does….d network is Great….
Flow sleeping. As a past employee of flow I tried many times to educate the government on a network that could enhance their capability at a much cheaper cost however this government is merely interested in aligning each other pockets
200 million , 15 years?
I’ll tell you what that means .
If the Prime Minister so decides that the provider of an international link to Dominica suspends that international link with the outside world , for what ever reason , then there is no doubt in my mind Digicel would do nothing but comply ,because they are so in bed with the Government .
This is a practice in some of the naughty countries who would rather their atrocities remain out of international circles .
This could be disastrous .
That’s good but someone please tell me how can all this be achieved without the gov’t having its own data center?
DNO: Why do you refer to Austrie as deputy prime minister? There is no such position in the constitution of Dominica, therefore, it does not exist. That the prime minister says he is the deputy prime minister does not make it so. As media you have a responsibility to educate, not fall in line if it is wrong.
Good point. Mr. Skerrit calling himself Doctor two times but he has no PhD either.
Hey Hey Hey wait a minute there!!!
Somebody need to check into dat garçan!!!
Dem people dat managing Digicel is not people from Vieille Case ???
……………………………………………………………
you see dat???
But as though 200 million dollars can start up a telecommunications company wi, especially for the little what Dominicans need is not no big infrastructure Dominica have like that nuh,,,
But how comes no body doh ask where 200 million dollars coming out from, not even water nuh Dominica selling on a international basis, the last thing they were depending on as GDP was Ross and Ross gone, so where they getting 200 million to give out like dat!!!
ADMIN: The original was post removed and so the reference to it in your post was also removed.
I thought Flow was the more reliable network. Thats how i made contact with my family back home immediately after Maria. I thought that this government was building a resilient country. we all know one cannot be resilient overhead and thats the network digicel built. Kudos to FLOW for there quick recovery after maria.
Admin, are you supportive of Flow, are you receiving under the table bribes not to publish information that is not favorable to flow? If not please publish my post.
Old faithful ron and marpin paid the high price for the breaking of the monopoly and many others was forced to run away but digicel was the real monopoly jaw bone breaker….we are indeed looking for better thgs to come….
Dominica has come a long way in communications, in the old days of the 1950’s and 1960’s when someone needed to make an overseas call they had to go in person to the Cable and Wireless main office in Roseau so they could call for you and you had to sit there waiting for them to make the connection and the call was not very clear.
@Bring back the kidnapped Dominican parrots
If only you realized what you are saying here, perhaps you might not even write it.
It would take PM Skerrit 22 years from 1950 to show his face in the World, he has been the Prime Minister of Dominica for just 18, years, but foolishly some of you are claiming that he met Dominica in a better condition that she is today; but your words above are saying that this claim is extremely FALSE! And the evidence of that false claim is quite outstanding
When I left Dominica in 1974, there was only one telephone in our village, which belonged to the shopkeeper. When I returned in 2008, everyone around me owned a cellphone. Right now I am sure that most children in school have access to a computer, one way or the other, to find information for their studies.
Now, it’s a 200 million dollars for a 15 years contract for telecommunications, how can Dominican be moving backward according to your evidence above?
Read the first sentence, i said Dominica has come a long way in communications since the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Your comment is totally irrelevant in reply to the Dominican parrot. You are seeing ghost an conspiracy where there are none. Nowhere the PM is mentioned. I think you must have him on the brain.
So i take it no more creole in the park??
Lime cannot give a sewo like Digi
Digi just need to rebrand CITP
DNO can you throw some light on this. Is government contracted to pay $200 mil or receive that amount for allowing Degicel to provide service.
ADMIN: That is the approximate value of the contract for Digicel’s services over 15 years.
Nice business if you can get it!
Why ask DNO Joseph John. You are the one with close connection to government are you not.
Will there be data protection laws to protect the citizen now that the government will be using facial recognition and other invasive technologies?
Ah, Austrie is on the podium again which means that Skerrit after only 1 week of sharing his dreams with us has gone on a jolly again at the expense of the country. We have a PM that can’t bear to stay any longer than 10 consecutive days in this country. That really should tell all of us what he thinks about his country. Let’s relieve him of his duties as PM at the next election so he will have even more time to go on his jollies abroad but without us having to pay for it. This man is just simply unbelievable!!
@RandyXJanuary 15, 2019
I don’t understand why you all are always complaining about PM being out of the country; don’t you all understanding anything about keeping ties with the outside world or the International Government? Isn’t he the best man to introduce Dominica to the World? –And there is a lot of fruitfulness to that process who can deny this when we think of hurricane Maria
Do you think that PM Skerrit would be successful in bringing the United Nations together, to hear his voice about hurricane Maria if he was not keeping friendly ties with them in the past?
Would Dominica be in a better state of development, had Mr.Skerrit been a Prime Minister who wouldn’t leave his armchair? And how much work can he do by simply sitting there?
For crying out loud, you people! Get rid of those negative dead thoughts and dress your minds with the thoughts which are negative, it will do good for you all and the rest of us too!
It’s very simple and very easy to understand for any clear thinking person, Skerrit hardly spends any time in DA and since he refuses to tell the citizens where he is going and why he is going says it all. To a seasoned Skerrit brown nose like yourself of course it is perfectly normal and acceptable that the PM of a country spends 80% abroad. I mean even for a Foreign Secretary that would be quite some time abroad. Just keep on living in denial!
Suck Salt! Ten years of more suffering.
Its good that we encourage competition among service providers. I foresee LIME eventually going out of Dominica. I have one observation though:
Royer-Jno Baptiste added that government will be initially introducing several cutting edge ICT initiatives in Dominica which includes CCTV monitoring, including facial and license plate recognition, “contributing significantly to the safety of all Dominicans and visitors to our country.”
Digicel is tasked with providing the infrastructure necessary for supporting the above mentioned; is she the government’s spokeswoman? ,
My sentiments exactly. I am not anti labour party but this arrangement has the potential for abuse by the party in power. It is like big brother is watching. It is not a good day when communication companies and the government are in bed together.
Mani cou, first of all she is the CEO of the Dominica branch, secondly how is cctv placed over the city to assist the police in arresting and persecuting persons committing crimes in and around the city, be manipulated by the politicians????
Do you people eat, sleep and drink politics???? SMDFH!!!
IT’S TIME YOU ALL SEE FURTHER THAN YOUR NOSES!!!!!!
Joe, you cannot blame Manicou. We spending millions on surveillance of citizens but the police still not equipped with breathalysers to check drunk drivers. Anyway, no excuse again for having unlicensed, untaxed and uninsured drivers on our roads. Especially those scooters an motorbikes. I don want to hear that nonsense again from the police that road tax is not their problem but is for the inland revenue. Don’t tell me that super system is not integrated with all government departments.
These are some very innovative ideas coming from Digicel Dominica. I don’t think it abstruse as we are making it seem. Digicel is a regional organization and I believe if it were any other party as the government Digicel would say and do the same. These companies must present something and work to retain their contract especially those as highly paid as the government and one way to do so is to appeal to different sectors of the country and assist with solving some of the issues. They are targetting safety and security which is a good thing. Look how LIME Dominica will work to convince of their commitment to Dominica now.