Senior Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Ports, Transport, Physical Development, and Urban Renewal Stephenson King is hoping for an amicable resolution after telecommunications company Digicel informed postpaid customers of an impending price adjustment.
On Tuesday, King accused Digicel of not adhering to the correct protocol in its price adjustment notice.
Postpaid customers reported that the company informed them about a 5% monthly subscription fee increase as it deals with the impact of substantial increases in business costs.
According to a company advisory, the bill due on December 29, 2022, would reflect the changes if applicable.
“I have seen those notices going around and obviously Digicel has not followed the correct protocol,” Minister King told reporters when they raised the matter during an impromptu interview.
The former Saint Lucia Prime Minister noted that the National Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (NTRC) and the Eastern Caribbean Telecommunications Authority (ECTEL) would receive such applications from service providers.
He explained that the bodies would seek justification for the service providers’ pricing requests.
King noted that in Digicel’s notice to its customers, the company had cited reasons for proposing the increase.
But he disclosed that the NTRC is now looking at the proposal.
King told reporters that he had spoken to ECTEL, the regional body, which is also examining the matter.
And he is awaiting a response from both entities to understand what Digicel is proposing.
According to King, there would then be a determination regarding whether to appeal to the telecommunications company indicating that now is not the time for the price hike.
“But I have also reached out to Digicel themselves and I have had a conversation with them and hopefully we’ll be able to resolve this matter amicably,” the Castries North MP told reporters.
And although Digicel has already notified customers regarding the planned price hike, King declared that nothing prevents the regulator from halting the company’s intentions.
they can do their price hike as long as they increase people data or give people more value for their money and i hope they increase their staff pay to
Everything seem to be increasing except out wages. How are we expected to survive?
who give them double pay check thats needs to be establish!
Good to know that you are trying to stop Digicel from increasing prices at this time but Lucelec is bleeding the poor and no one is saying anything. Electricity prices have gone up every month since September. The price paid for approximately 140 units in September went up by about $30 in October and another $40+ in November. From September to November the malaway had to pay over $70 more for about the same usage. Please PUT PEOPLE FIRST and stop letting these companies bleed us of our last dollars
It’s not just the postpaid customers… all the hidden charges…sickening. Tell me why people paying so much for a plan with dedicated data for apps rarely used and before you turn on data for the apps you do use it runs out… just a whole scam
yup i do agree you remeber when 3g or was it 4g came to saint lucia and we thought it was a nice thing and as soon as you open whats app or face book time you check in five mins you have no data boy that was so frustrating. just imagine if they were not giving those apps for free on data or plan use
trying to stop? mate not trying to stop nothing, all he is saying is Digicel is not adhering to the proper protocol ,in order words there is a process in which this has to go before sending those kinds of messages to its customers they cant just decide on a price hike and then send a message to their customers just like that.
All king can do is tell them to hold off on it if the time is not the right time to do this right now but he cant prevent them from hiking their prices. as for lucelec if PJP was decreasing the gas/diesel prices then maybe lucelec could lower their fuel surcharge, you dont see every time there is a price adjustment that gas for vehicles only goes up or stays stagnant for a while but the cooking gas alone that fluctuates?
What a surprise to have received notice of a Price Hike from Digicel – it was entirely predictable due to the huge amount of money which the Company must have spent on Billboards, buses and endless ‘ in your face ‘ ads promising more !!! Try asking the company as to what was the cost of that advertising splurge Rt.Hon Minister and perhaps it will equate to a 5% increase or more !!
GO STOP CRIME
MORNE-DU-DON
Increase in passport prices, Bread price increase, LUCELEC price increase, Massy price increase, Port leases, Old St. Jude’s versus new St Jude’s, CCJ Final appellate court, Constitutions change to make a non elected member a Deputy- No consultation BUT Digicel want to increase their prices and King will say incorrect procedure. They got theri cue from the government!
Why are you even paying for data? A WiFi plan you and your neighbours can get together and pay for costs far less and there is no data cap. I burn through 77 GB a month at home on my mobile phone, that doesn’t even include my PC where I watch 1080p video on a 27″ display. The money I save not paying for an overpriced data plan meanwhile you pay hundreds of dollars for a few GBs just so you can have WhatsApp 24/7. Just be active on WhatsApp in the evening. Bring on the price hike. Mobile data is a luxury not a basic need.
Simple economics, really. They don’t increase wages but we are expected to pay more? Then just buy less. Stores sell a lot of junk anyway so they are doing us a favour by not even having anything worthwhile to buy. You go Massy. A supermarket. Suppose to be a supermarket. But you can’t find fresh fruit of the shelves, just the imported junk that has no flavour and cansepnd weeks on the shelf and never spoils. They say rural communities are far better equipped to handle an economic collapse than an urban or suburban community. My suggestion to you is to seek out local produce from your local market and leave the processed foods at Massy. Also, grow your own food. If you have no land you can engage in community gardening with your neighbours. As soon as we all do that see how quickly prices fall or wages increase.
Sorry KinG. Your two faced language no longer works. You got away with it for too long. There is nothibg you can do about the price increases. Stop playing us as usual.
You have a silver tongue which means NOTHING. We are on to you and the fraud.
JOohn Compton knew your worth. Keep you in a Ministry and do as you are told. You have no capacity to succeed at anything for we St Lucians if it requires your own ideas. You were only anything as long as Sir John was telling you what to do.
Having sabotaged the UWP for 5 years you now are faced with a disastrous failing SLP government bringing DOOM to our country.
And you are one of the Architects of this anarchy.
Death now defines our society. Vulgarity and callousness now the norm and you are the definition of our failure as a nation.
Get behind me Satan!
Tine to get up off your corpulant axx and start doing some wirk.
For the past two weeks I notice that if you do a one day plan , which by the way has increased by over 50% in price, by the time you make one call all the data gone. Smh
Behold King Cobra who according to his own words, ” accepted the higher bid ” I hope by now, you know you are part and parcel of that Cabal of doom and gloom and an impending collapse of this administration. You, it is well known, have zero qualification to mount any initiative for the advancement of financial stability in this Government – so as usual you just go along with what you are told to do – you are not alone in this bracket there. It is frightening to run a Government with such and the worse is the one who is smart enough to keep his head under water – the one who offered the Bid, rather a slap in the face and you took it. Tell us if you and your SDA Brother, the “Minister of ECCESIASTICAL affairs” would ever agree to enforce that which is in the BOOKS, the Hanging of convicted murderers?
So St. Lucia, this is your reward: I Pray the Almighty to have mercy: Amen.