KeyTech Limited has announced its first quarter results and declared a common share dividend of 13 cents per share for the fourth quarter ending March 31 2003.

In a statement issued by chief executive officer, Sheila Manderson, the company said it was in a “strong financial position” but it did not disclose quarterly revenues, revealing only that the revenue trends of the year have continued.

“The downturn in cellular airtime revenue because of increased free airtime in consumer packages as that market matures and the decline in international interconnection fees have been offset by increased data, consulting and professional fees, voice over IP and hardware sales.

“Our common share trading price on the BSX has remained relatively stable, ranging from $9.25-$10.00 per share.”

In addition to the common share dividend, the board has decided to return some of the retained earnings to the common shareholders in the form of a 1 for ten common share dividend.

Owners of preferred shares also have the opportunity to benefit from this stock dividend if they convert their preferred shares to common shares prior to the record and payment date of April 30, 2003. Notices to the preferred shareholders have been sent out by letter.

The company also announced some rationalisation of services including the decision to transfer responsibility for overseas call operator service to the entities responsible for providing long-distance telephone service, TBI and Cable & Wireless.

As a consequence, four overseas operator positions were made redundant in March.

According to the statement, the staff leaving those positions have been provided with fair compensation packages as well as assistance from the Employee Assistance Program.

The company said that in response to the increasingly competitive telecommunications environment, its subsidiary companies are working hard to ensure that they preserve their positions in the marketplace by providing leading edge products and technological solutions to meet the needs of their customers.

BTC has initiated a new online customer account system that will allow customers to pay their bills and manage their accounts online. Logic Communications continued to forge ahead with its offerings of advanced IP solutions such as “ ViaLogic”, a high-speed system that allows the staff of businesses to access their office network from home.

Logic's professional consulting division and professional services team have developed and customized IP solutions for customers.

The recent prolonged outage of mainland connectivity experienced by TBI has caused Logic's management to reevaluate their provisions for network redundancy and seek alternate bandwidth capacity from Cable & Wireless. This will help to ensure a greater degree of connectivity reliability for their clients for the future.

Problems with Mobility's new GSM system persist and it is still not operating overseas, despite previous reports that they would be rolled out in March: “The fourth quarter has been a very challenging one for Mobility as one might expect of the start-up of the new GSM system.

“Roaming Agreements have taken significantly longer to process because of the extensive testing required.

“Good progress has been made and it is anticipated that the system issues with overseas roaming partners will be resolved shortly.

“Testing in Canada has been successfully completed and the service in that country will be turned up in mid-April.”