By CLINT CHAN TACK Saturday, July 7 2007

TWO YEARS after it was awarded a US$9m cellular licence, local telecom company Laqtel has found itself in financial trouble and has advised staff that it may have to “review our manpower requirements.”

Laqtel Chief Operating Officer Richard Nixon in a March 7 letter to employees advised them that the company “continues to experience financial difficulties, resulting in our inability to launch our network.”

Nixon told staff that Laqtel would “review our manpower requirements.” In another letter to employees, dated May 9, Laqtel corporate secretary Vijay Seegobin also spoke of the company’s financial difficulties, but added that “tremendous progress” had been made “in stemming the crisis situation.”

“The turnaround process is still ongoing.” In a third letter to employees on June 29, Seegobin said: “Whilst Laqtel continues to pursue turnaround initiatives, it is not at this time possible to predict or estimate the likely success of such initiatives.”

One source yesterday claimed of the 29 workers employed at Laqtel’s offices on Sackville Street in Port-of-Spain, all but five have been dismissed. The source claimed that Laqtel had been grappling with financial difficulties and was unable to convince two foreign companies to invest in it.

A second source said Laqtel had been experiencing problems with funding ever since it received its licence from the Telecom Authority on July 5, 2005. Irish telecom company Digicel was awarded a US$16m cellular licence from the Telecom Authority on the same date and launched its operations on April 1, 2006, after it signed an interim interconnection agreement with state telecom company TSTT.

The second source said the CDMA technology which Laqtel planned to offer the public was superior to any of the GSM technology currently being offered by TSTT or Digicel but funding remains the company’s main stumbling block. This source was uncertain as to the exact nature of Laqtel’s current financial difficulties.

A third source claimed Laqtel had done minor testing of some equipment but was still not ready to launch.

Nixon yesterday declined to comment on the reports of financial difficulties. He said the company was “moving ahead” with its plan to launch and that this launch would happen “shortly.” Nixon promised that one of his aides would provide detailed information on the matter.

Up to press time, none of this information was provided. When Newsday called Nixon again and asked for a phone contact for that aide, Nixon replied the aide asked for his (the aide’s) contact information to be kept confidential and the aide would provide the information that was requested.

Efforts to contact Telecom Authority officials yesterday about Laqtel’s status were unsuccessful.