Ozone Wireless set to open soon

In about a month’s time this island’s newest mobile provider, Ozone Wireless (Barbados) Inc, will be officially up and running, providing competition for the existing telecommunications companies based here.

Management of the company yesterday announced to the media that they will be opening their doors on July 17, and are promising Barbadians the latest technology, outstanding customer care, 24/7 data at home or on the go and no contract
periods. During a media briefing at their Manor Lodge, headquarters, Brand and Communications Manager, Dianne Squires said that the company acquired the licence to operate here in 2014 and while their initial deployment will be in Barbados, which will be the company’s hub, plans are on stream to expand to select markets within the Caribbean. In fact, Squires said they have already started to examine which territories they want to secure licences in.

She added that Ozone Wireless is currently providing employment for 50 persons, 96 per cent of who come from Barbados, but she is adamant that in spite of their small size, they will be a force to be reckoned with, as they seek to satisfy the demand for an alternative in the market.

“We are the only and the first 4G LTE only network; so what that means is that we don’t have 3G, or we don’t have 2G, what’s called a legacy network. So we start at what is really 21st Century technology and that’s really how we are differentiated on the technology side from the incumbents… 4G LTE is really built for data, and so data is going to be the hallmark and the strongpoint of Ozone,” she said.

Squires added, “We are not going to be binding people into a contract period of a year or two years… We feel that they are going to find that the service is so great that they will want to stay, but there is no binding contract, and I think that is a key differentiator for us.”

Her comments came as she added that the company will also offer customers a “true end-to-end ecommerce solution”. She explained that while they will have a physical store, and will have distribution partners throughout the island, customers will be able to do all their transactions online via their website.

Adding to her comments, Director of Operations, Glenn Thorpe, said the intention is to provide island-wide coverage, and they have been working to ensure that is a reality. To that end, he said rather than building new towers to deliver their service, they have been working with the existing telecommunication providers to share tower space at 19 towers, and will also be utilising 12 valuable rooftop spaces across the island.

“This is just the beginning though, because as we bring customers onboard, we will also have to increase the number of sites across the island, not to satisfy coverage, but to satisfy capacity demands,” he said. (JRT)