As CellularOne gets ready to celebrate its seventh anniversary in July, the company has launched a pre-emptive campaign to reward customer loyalty and introduce new services.

CellularOne CEO Michael Leverock said seven years is significant because the company?s number starts with seven and seven years for any start up company is a milestone and a sign of maturity.

?Given increased competition we felt now would be a good time to start implementing some of the ideas and initiatives we have had on the back burner,? Mr. Leverock said.

?We have a few new products we are going to launch within the first half of the year and more will be introduced subsequent to that but the biggest thing is coming up with the right mix for our loyalty programme.

?The rewards loyalty programme we have been advertising is primarily commemorative of our seventh anniversary but we think the whole year is special.?

CellularOne are giving new and existing customers the opportunity to win a cash prize.

?There are number of factors in reaching this milestone, it?s always good to come into a market where there is a previous monopoly situation because there is pent-up demand for an alternative in choice.

?We have kept on an even keel because we have always been committed to providing excellent and superior customer service.

?We have spent lots of time and money on in-depth engineering studies on how best to deploy our network service to give the best Island coverage and improve voice quality and other services.?

Mr. Leverock said the company has been competitive in its pricing and has developed services and products people demand.

He also said CellularOne has consistently evolved from a technology perspective and has reviewed its goals and objectives on several occasions to assess whether they were effective and admitted that some ideas did not work and were revised.

?We have consistently looked at our business model and have made some good business decisions from a financial perspective. We have always looked to negotiate the best price for our network equipment and made a concerted effort to keep expenses under control.

The CellularOne CEO said the company has not expanded too quickly but has been steadily expanding to meet its needs while utilising technology as much as possible.

He said the 1999 telecommunication legislation needs to be revised as technology has outpaced the legislation and the industry has competitively matured.

He said developments IP (Internet telephony) and conversion of technology has meant that the polices and regulations need to be adjusted to accommodate these developments.

?Competition has been introduced in other jurisdictions in various ways but the main idea has been continued development of the telecommunications infrastructure, increase competition so people have more choice and have better pricing for the consumer.?

?In order for that to happen you need to allow carriers to utilise the networks and infrastructure as much as possible and restrictions on the types of services and products they offer could be a barrier to introduce new technology.?

CellularOne does not have a license to offer its wireless data access service ?The Bull?. Mr. Leverock said voice over IP (VOIP) is a new phenomenon in the industry. IP was initially used for purely for data transmission protocol for the Internet but now accommodates voice and other types of services.

He is hoping the two day roundtable held by Telecommunications Minister Michael Scott last year will lead to a less cumbersome framework to allow carriers to apply for licences.