CWS CEO attributes success to people-centered advances |03 August 2023
Mr D’Offay
People-centered innovations and advancements are the key to Cable and Wireless Seychelles’ (CWS) successes, chief executive Georges D’Offay has said.
Mr D’Offay extended gratitude towards the people of Seychelles, the company’s former and serving employees, and all who have contributed towards the telecommunications provider over its 130 years in Seychelles.
“To reach the point we are at today, we cannot say that we did it ourselves. It is for this reason that today I want to seize the opportunity to thank everyone in Seychelles. If we have existed for 130 years in Seychelles, it is because they have helped us reach this point,” he said, during the company’s mega festival last Saturday.
Mr D’Offay noted that the company is working on yet more innovations and will soon update its billing platform and data centre.
“We are improving our mobile coverage. We have so much coming up. And as the first Seychellois CEO, backed by a Seychellois board, I am really proud to be working for a Seychellois company who is celebrating its 130th year in Seychelles.”
“Personally, I think there are some important projects that CWS has undertaken and which have contributed towards us reaching 130 years in Seychelles. Cable and Wireless in my opinion will last another 130 years in Seychelles and we will keep providing our clients and the Seychellois people with quality service,” he added.
The company was born in March 1893, when the Eastern and South African Telegraph Company (its ancestor company) was granted a contract to establish a telegraph cable linking Zanzibar with Seychelles, then Mauritius.
In the late 1960s, HF radio links were gradually replacing the submarine telegraph cables around the world. In 1967 the first radio links by High Frequency (HF) Radio via Nairobi were established.
“It was in 1975 when I started and at the time we were using HF to communicate. And in 1976 we decided to move to satellite, and when we transitioned to satellite, I can say that I am really proud to be the first Seychellois to have viewed live television at the time,” Mr D’Offay recalls.
Between the years 1983 to 1986, the telephone system in Seychelles became digital, making it possible to introduce International Direct Dialing to 70 plus countries.
In 2012, fibre optic subsea cables reached Seychelles’ shores, with CWS as the largest telecom investor in the revolutionary technology.
“We believe in a good customer experience, we believe in Seychellois and as we have said, we placed Seychellois at the centre of all of our developments,” Mr D’Offay asserts.
The company has organised a number of activities over the course of the year in celebration of its 130th anniversary.
Laura Pillay