By Mary Fonua

Digicel Pacific Ltd's expansion to Tonga with the acquisition of Tonfon Communications, was announced by executives of the two companies in Nuku'alofa yesterday.

Tonfon is part of the Shoreline Group of Companies owned by King George Tupou V.

Staff of Tonfon Communications were told of the impending sale yesterday, shortly before a public statement was made by Soane Ramanlal, the CEO of Tonfon, who said it will include the Tonfon mobile telephone network, Internet Service and TonfonTV.

"As part of the program for His Majesty to withdraw from commercial interests in Tonga, an agreement has been reached with Digicel Pacific Ltd. for the sales of the telecommunications business," he said.

Brand name

Vanessa Slowey, the CEO of Digicel Pacific Ltd., expected that by December the paperwork for the sale would be completed.

"We are very excited about the company coming into the market and our transition plan starts in January for the company to go from Tonfon to the Digicel brand name," she said.

The company will aim to increase the current 35% mobile telephone market penetration for Tonga's 102,000 people.

Pacific

Digicel has rolled out its brand name in the Pacific with an aggressive marketing campaign that started in Samoa last November, after the Irish company purchased a 90% stake in Telecom Samoa for a reputed USD$12 million, part of its USD$40 million investment in Samoa GSM communications. Digicel Pacific's marketing team made overtures to Tonga at the time and it has since launched GSM services in Papua New Guinea.

How much will be paid for Tonfon was not revealed by the CEOs.

Soane said the sale was still under negotiation, "but any transfer of business or assets will involve a 100% transfer."

Soane disagreed that the GSM service offered by Digicel, at a time when more advanced systems are available, was the reason why the sale had not been made last year.

"The talks have been continuing for over a year. Digicel is the best fit for us," he said.

Vanessa added that the service would be technically the same as the GSM service in Samoa, "and better".

"Digicel's philosophy is to provide a quality product. We are going to improve on what Tonfon has already built before the commercial marketing of our products are launched," she said. "We are going to put some plans together but at this stage completing the sale is the first priority."

Caribbean

Digicel is a telecommunications provider with over 5.7 million mobile subscribers operating in 22 markets throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America, and in the South Pacific. It has over 4,500 employees worldwide and 90% are local, said Vanessa.

"We have spent a lot of time looking at the market in Tonga to come up with a product that will suit the location because no two countries are the same.

"Digicel is committed to delivering real value, unprecedented service and coverage, as well as innovation to mobile customers in Tonga. Such efforts can only bring significant benefits to consumers, businesses and tourists, while at the same time increasing the competitiveness of Tonga and its attractiveness as a regional business centre," she said.

In other countries their marketing campaigns she said had also brought increased business to their competitors as mobile phone penetration increased.

Tonga market

in Tonga Digicel will be competing with one other mobile telephone and internet provider, the government owned Tonga Communications Corporation.

Soane said the market currently was about 30,000 mobile subscribers in aggregate, and Tonfon claimed about two thirds of that.

Staff

Soane said that an important factor for the Board of Shoreline was the prospect of ongoing employment for the staff of Tonfon. "We are satisfied that under the new ownership, Digicel. . . will provide every opportunity to committed and enthusiastic employees," he said.

Electricity business

Soane also updated the staff in a memorandum regarding the intended sale of the electricity business to the Tonga government.

"While considerable progress has been made, the terms of a sale have not yet been agreed. At this time we are unable to be sure when the sale will be completed," he stated.