Richard Dodd, who for 18 months has been at the forefront of the push by Cable & Wireless plc to redefine its regional businesses into a seamless Pan-Caribbean operation under a new name and brand, is stepping down as the boss of LIME Caribbean.

He will be replaced as CEO by his chief operating officer, David Shaw, who will "take up the role after a short handover," LIME announced Tuesday.

One regional powerhouse

Shaw will continue the work that Dodd, working with Phil Green, began in 2007 to build LIME's 13-country operations into one regional powerhouse, akin to the model used by banking group FirstCaribbean International Bank, whose multiple markets operate almost like satellites of their Barbados parent.

LIME said Dodd's reason for resigning was personal.

"Having successfully executed the first phase of the programme, he has decided to return to the UK," the company said.

His departure comes seven months behind Phil Green, who gave up his job as country manager for Jamaica to be with his family in Indonesia.

Management change

The announcement of the management change comes following disclosures in London that the Caribbean operation was under-performing and that the company was considering new job cuts across the region to offset costs.

Income from fixed-line minutes fell nine per cent in the first quarter, while average revenue per customer declined eight per cent, C&W plc said at its annual general meeting in London on Friday.

It also said the slowdown in business was "intensifying".

Jamaica, where the transformation has been deepest, reported operating profit of $1.6 billion at yearend March 2009, after restructuring costs of $677 million, and boosted by a $892 million bonanza from pension restructuring.

LIME Jamaica, which had a $5 billion write-off of assets in 2008, cut its net loss from $4 billion to $302 million in the 2009 period.

The Jamaican operation reported growth of 11 per cent in both fixed line and broadband revenue, but an undisclosed decline in mobile income pushed total revenue down by four per cent, from $22.89 billion to $21.99 billion.

Shaw's focus, coming into office - LIME Caribbean is headquartered in Barbados - is to developing LIME into a "customer-centric business" and to continue the push for a transformation of the culture at the company, whose business includes Internet, mobile and landline phone service.

Lime culture

The culture at LIME has been a holdover of the company's monopolistic past, and has in the age of competition proved to be a business killer for the telecoms, whose dominance of the market has become part of it history.

LIME's focus on customer service, the rebranding, and the rebuilding of its regional telecommunications platforms, are meant to woo customers back.

Dodd commended

Tony Rice, the CEO of CWI, the international division of the Cable & Wireless group, and parent company to LIME, commended Dodd for "restoring" LIME's competitiveness.

The new man to lead the effort, Shaw, "has strong experience" in the telecoms industry as part of the senior executive teams that transformed UK telecoms operator Energis and then Cable & Wireless Worldwide, the UK arm of the Cable & Wireless group.

David "is ideally suited to the task of developing this business and its culture, to put our customers at the centre of everything we do," Rice said.

Shaw says he has already been working six months with the team he will lead.

lavern.clarke@gleanerjm.com

LIME Jamaica/Cable and Wireless Jamaica corporate headquarters, Carlton Crescent, St Andrew. - Photo by Amitabh Sharma