— lips sealed on move’s likely impact on two rival phone companies
THE Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) and Digicel (Guyana) Limited have both decided not to break silence, at least for now, on the recent move by Guyanese artistes Adrian Dutchin and Jumo Primo to cease promoting the red network (DIGICEL), and opting to get on board with the blue network (GT&T). Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle last Sunday, a source close to both artistes noted that the move was well orchestrated, and was designed to better utilize the talents of the two musical icons.
The source noted that while the move is likely to see added and even more dramatic competition between the two phone companies, by way of ads and promotions, the motive was not to create animosity.
Speaking to one of the artistes on Sunday, that artiste noted that he was not authorized by his new bosses to speak on the issue. Nevertheless, he dispelled speculation that the move was due to any considerations for which Digicel might be held responsible.
Contacted on Monday, Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company, Yog Mahadeo, said that while he understands that everyone wants to know what is going on in the development behind the switch, those details will be dealt with at a press conference slated for today.
Mahadeo told the Chronicle newspaper that his company would not be making statements to individual media houses, but all the questions posed in relation to the switch by the duo will be adequately represented by the company at today’s briefing.
Meanwhile, approached for a comment yesterday, Digicel informed this publication it was not yet prepared to address the issue. A source at Digicel informed that the move by Adrian and Jumo was not unlawful, and had not thus far hurt the company. Further, the source added that there were no legal complications or moves that would or could be taken against the two, because they were not contracted by Digicel at the time they had decided to switch.
The source also informed that the Digicel Head of Marketing deals with artistes and those who provide similar services to the company. As such, any statement emanating from the company in relation to the switch may very likely be dealt with by the head of marketing.
Last Saturday, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company Limited (GT&T) held the finals of its 10/10 cricket tournament and at that event, GT&T announced that two very popular artistes were switching to the ‘blue power’ network.
The GT&T CEO had declared there was a big surprise before announcing that Adrian and Jumo were now part of the GT&T family. The duo then appeared on stage, ripping off their red jerseys (trademark colour of Digicel) to reveal their blue power jerseys (GT&T’s trademark colour) underneath. It was then announced that GT&T would be launching the ‘Switch It Up’ campaign, which will be headlined by the two newcomers.
The following day – Sunday, May 13 — Guyana was hit with arguably a power ad, in which Adrian and Jumo were seen meeting with the CEO of GT&T. The ad also featured a slight jingle by which the duo commented about being able to have free access to the management team of GT&T, among other things.
Since the two switched from Digicel to GT&T, there has been much speculation about the reason behind the move. The discussions have reached the Facebook social network site, with many persons giving their views of what may have been responsible.
However, one of the artistes pointed out that while their contract with the company was up, switching to GT&T had nothing to do with money or bad friendship between them and Digicel.
Since its dramatic entrance to the local market, evidently forcing GT&T to offer cheaper rates for calls and prices for handsets, Digicel has been able to attract the services of several local artistes and entertainers, who have been promoting its services. Adrian and Jumo, better known as X2, have been with the company ever since it began operating here in 2007.