Telecommunications leader fine-tunes services

For a country like Suriname, with its relatively small population spread across a comparatively large area, coming up with a viable communications network can be a genuine nightmare.
So far, however, the state-owned telecommunications company Telesur has done a commendable job considering the legal constraints it had to operate under during the previous administration and the current legislative hurdles it now faces in its bid to prepare for future competition.
While maintaining its commitment to bring affordable telephone connections to the interior of the country, Telesur managing director Iris Marie Struiken-Wijdenbosch says the company is now focusing its growth strategy on wireless services and higher revenue activities such as data transfer, as well as giving more attention to its corporate clients.

“We have a universal service obligation, so the fixed network is something we will continue to focus on, although our biggest focus is on business applications, which will give us certain leverage to carry out the other, universal service,” she explains.
“Of course we will continue to focus on anything wireless, meaning the Internet, cellular telephony and so on. But at the same time we are also looking at the higher level streams such as the non-traffic matters like data-related services to give more attention to the business community,” Ms. Struiken adds. The Telesur executive says flexibility in the sector is the key to success because the scope of the business is changing day by day. And those changes include the real challenge of future competition.

Although the telecommunications sector in Suriname operates under a duopoly, the second operator, International Communications Management Services, is no real threat to Telesur.
The real competition, Ms.
Struiken predicts, will come within about four years. “So our strategy is that we want to remain the major player when competition moves in, both for business and for residential. And that’s what we’re doing, basically because having a reliable telecommunications infrastructure is the best way to attract foreign investors.”
Of course a liberalized communications sector will undoubtedly mean a change of the legal structure of Telesur, a fact that Ms.

Struiken is well aware of. And instead of waiting until the last moment, she says she’s tackling the problem now through corporate restructuring. “Corporate restructuring, and at the same time optimizing our basic network, our infrastructure. We are also trying to offer as many services as possible. It’s the only way to deal with the future privatization issue,” Ms. Struiken notes. “And we are fortunate to have international trade organizations backing us in this process, as well as Price Waterhouse, which is currently looking into the sector. So we are confident that when the time comes–and we prefer later than sooner–we’ll be ready.”