15 - 21March 2001

Customer care: the secret of any company’s success

by David Kelleher

A company’s success does not solely depend on providing a quality product but on a high level of customer care, the chairman of Melita Cable, Joe Gasan believes.
Speaking to The Malta Business Weekly after launching Melita’s Digital Interactive Hub on Tuesday, Mr Gasan said he firmly believes in treating customers in the best possible manner.
“A happy client will always come back even if there is competition. He may not come back after a month or even a year, but he will come back at some point. The secret is giving the customer that little bit extra attention. And that is what we are doing at Melita Cable and the Gasan Group,” Mr Gasan said.
Next June is Melita Cable’s 10th anniversary. Asked what led Gasan Group to enter the cable TV and Internet business, Mr Gasan said his company had shown interest before Melita was actually set up.
“When Melita was set up we only had a 20 per cent shareholding. However, the government made it clear that the company had to be Maltese-owned within six years. On 4 July 1997, Gasan finalised the deal to own 50 per cent of Melita Cable. We had also bought out another local shareholder, Hili Group,” he said.
Gasan Group has diversified its activities over the past decades and these include insurance, motor cars, cable TV and Internet provision. Has Gasan been forced to shift its focus on one area?
“No. We are still actively involved in the insurance industry and our motoring division is still going strong. In fact, next week will see the inauguration of our new premises in Mriehel. In business you have to diversify to remain competitive and try to tap new markets. Gasan Group is doing exactly this,” Mr Gasan said.
Asked whether he believed that the liberalisation of cable TV in June would result in more competition, Mr Gasan said he did not think so.
“We have never had a total monopoly. Our competitors have been the free TV stations and satellite. I do not think Malta will have a new cable TV operator, however, I do believe we will be faced with competition in other areas. That is why we are keen to launch those services we have planned as soon as possible,” Mr Gasan explained.
The launch of the Digital Interactive Hub is but another step forward for Mr Gasan and Melita. The project is expected to cost around Lm50 million over the next three years. The investment will enable the company to offer various services such as digital interactive television, video on demand, telephony, Internet through television as well as live video streaming services for businesses.
Due to the hefty investment, Melita will be looking at other sources of capital including a share offer.
Mr Gasan said that the company had always said that it would consider going to the Stock Exchange at the right time. “Until recently we could not do that because we did not know the government’s liberalisation plans.”
Mr Gasan said the company was now considering whether to go public or not. “We are going to make an investment of over Lm50 million over the next three years and are looking to get the required funds. Going to the Malta Stock Exchange is one of the options which are seriously being considered. But no decision has been taken and no firm dates have been decided,” he said.
Work on the construction of the Digital Interactive Hub is already underway at the company’s premises at Madliena. The project is expected to be completed by early next year.
“We will be investing in the latest technology to be able to offer a wide-range of new services,” Mr Gasan said during the launch.
Melita Cable’s CEO Frank Leiter gave details of the project and stressed that with this investment as well as with the upgrading of the entire cable infrastructure, Melita Cable would be in a position to potentially transform Malta into the world’s first fully digital interactive country.
The focus of attention, he said, should not be directed solely at hardware and technology but also at people with a particular emphasis on the community.