Above: TSTT CEO Lisa Agard.

On the 1st February 2022, TSTT submitted to its representative majority Unions (RMUs) as well as its management staff, a proposal to restructure the Company, given the current realities of the global and local telecommunications industry, and this proposal is the subject of ongoing consultations with the RMUs and management staff.

TSTT also announced on the 4th Feb 2022 that it had commenced the process to secure funding from the financial markets to cover the separation costs of its proposed restructuring exercise.

The proposal is still in its formative stages as to the number of employees who might be potentially impacted but, as part of making arrangements for the possibility that the proposal – whether as made or some varied form of it following the conclusion of consultations – might be implemented, TSTT had to seek funding to cover the cost of the proposed restructure.

It is only after the consultations have been completed, that the proposed size and shape of the organisation will be determined, and the actual number of any impacted employees will be known.

At the moment, any stated, cited or quoted number of potentially impacted employees cannot be, and is not, definitive because this (among others) is a matter which is the subject of the ongoing consultations. The Company is unable to make public the details of the consultation process itself, and it would be inappropriate to make any further comment at this time as the Company takes the view that to do so would be inconsistent with the principles of good industrial relations practice.

As TSTT has previously stated, the proposed restructure has been necessitated by several factors including the economic conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic; increased consumer adoption of digital applications like WhatsApp and communications platforms like Zoom; which have precipitated the decline in local and international switched calling, the legacy costs associated with redundant technology in TSTT’s existing operating structure; and the continued industry-wide trend of substitution of lower-margin data services in place of voice services.

These and other factors continue to have a crippling impact on the Company’s business and its results, with TSTT’s revenue falling by TT$453 million during the past financial year ended March 31, 2021 – 18% less than the prior year.