By: Trinidad Guardian

Saturday January 09,

A war of words has started between TSTT and its mobile competitor, Digicel, over next month’s Beyonce concert—I am Sasha Fierce.

TSTT lashed out at Digicel yesterday for saying that Digicel chose local culture over an $11.1 million offer to bring Beyonce to T&T. Digicel’s communication’s manager Penny Gomez, during an interview on Wednesday, said the company was approached by fete promoters with an offer to host the event but refused as they felt it more important to invest the money locally.

She said Digicel was asked to fork out $11.1 million to foot Beyonce’s performance fee alone, but the entire cost of hosting the event would have been about $30 million. But state-owned company TSTT feels that Digicel turned down the offer because it was unable to “juggle” the hosting of the concert with supporting local culture.

“We don’t have Digicel’s limitations of being unable to support an international concert while at the same time lending support to local culture,” said Graeme Suite, TSTT’s manager, media relations and corporate communications, during a telephone interview. “As far as we are concerned, the opportunity to host the concert is a golden opportunity for TSTT,” he said. But Digicel said yesterday that the company did not have a “limitless public purse from which to draw.” “Digicel, in evaluating any promotional or sponsorship opportunity, considers whether the proposed activity offers great value for money,” said the company’s communications manager Penny Gomez.

She said the company chose to focus its resources on local initiatives that were broad-ranging and its selection of Carnival projects was well thought out. Meanwhile, Suite maintained yesterday that that cancelling the Beyonce show was still out of the question for TSTT, although there has been widespread opposition to the hosting the show during the Carnival period. In fact, TSTT said yesterday that the public did not seem too hampered by ongoing debate on the issue, since sale of tickets raked in almost $3 million in just a six-day period. In a release, TSTT said there had been a steady stream of fans into its bmobile outlets on a daily basis.

“Now TSTT is activating online purchasing to give locals and interested visitors a more convenient avenue for getting the hot ticket,” TSTT said. Beyonce, who was dubbed by Forbes.com as the third highest earning singer in the world, will perform at the expected sold-out concert on February 18. Forbes.com, a business and financial analysis Web site, also listed Beyonce as the seventh highest earning celebrity, having raked in more than US$87 million between June 2008 and June 2009. Ticket prices for the concert are $1,600 (VVIP), $1,000 (VIP) and $450 (general admission).

Highest earning celebrities in the world

1. Oprah Winfrey—US$275 million
2. George Lucas—US$170 million
3. Steven Spielberg—US$150 million
4. Madonna—US$110 million
5. Tiger Woods—US$110 million
6. Jerry Bruckheimer—US$100 million
7. Beyonce—US$87 million

By Leah Sorias