BTC to invest $20-$30M to bring NGN 'to market'

By NATARIO

McKENZIE

Tribune Business

Reporter

nmckenzie@

tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) expects to be “well positioned” to win back market share in the fixed-line Internet broadband market via its Next Generation Network (NGN), the company’s chief executive telling Tribune Business it will invest a further $20-$30 million “to bring it to market”.

Addressing the progress of the NGN network roll-out, Geoff Houston told Tribune Business: “The NGN network situation is much more complicated, and we have spent quite a lot of money re-engineering how we do it.

“We have got a formula now which is going to allow us to bring it to market. You are talking about cutting across 127,000 exchange lines. We have probably got through 5,000-6,000 already. That’s going to take us a year to accomplish all that, but when we finish it, in the majority of places people will be able to get access to top high speed broadband on their existing phone lines.”

Mr Houston added: “Before Cable and Wireless arrived, BTC had already made a significant investment in its NGN. BTC had already invested $50 million-plus.

“We will invest another $20-$30 million to bring it to market. What BTC hadn’t achieved was bringing it to market. We have figured out how to do that, and now we are wrapping that up.

“We have to win back market share. The business had lost a lot of that market to competition, so we are definitely in ‘win back’ mode. When you look at our pricing, which is half the price of the competition, that’s a clear signal that we are intent on winning back our market share. Our network is going to provide high speed broadband to a broader range of customers in more areas, and I think it’s going to get us really well positioned to start winning back that market share.”

Mr Houston said that despite the initial outcry during the introduction of the EzTopUp system, the phone card/TopUp distribution has “gone down” well.

“That was not an easy thing to accomplish, but I feel that we have been able to work constructively with the distribution channels to effect that change,” said Mr Houston.

“The customers are using EzTopUp a lot more than we anticipated, so more than half of our TopUp business is now coming off the EzTopUp platform, which tells me that customers wanted it. Obviously the card business is there, but that whole re-engineering of the card/TopUp distribution has gone down quite well,”   

Mr Houston said BTC has seen success with its smart phone sales. He added: “Before we launched 4G, 3 per cent of our sales were on smart phones. Today, nearly half of our business is on smart phones, so the Bahamian customer is moving quickly to that smart phone technology. It’s been quite phenomenal; we feel the whole transformation of the market.”

Comments

paul_vincent_zecchino says...

Well, it's excellent encouraging news isn't it? The cost seems more than modest considering the returns.

Posted 28 September 2012, 8:34 p.m. Suggest removal

John says...

BTC is turning into a cannibal not unlike the gas companies....they wnt to own everything. they are paying the phone card vendors less than peanuts to sell their phone cards, and they have taken control of the cell phone market, even advertising $12.00 and $15.00 phones they did not have (false advertising?, U BET!) Now with their so called franchise stores the 'franchise" operators will only end up with a salary if they do not end up losing the shirts off their backs.. like many gas station operators..BTC will end up with ALL the profits 51 % to be taken out of the country...serious times Bahamians!

Posted 29 September 2012, 2:39 p.m. Suggest removal

concernedcitizen says...

bad bad CWC get out of here w/ your better technology ,we want our birth right back ,the highest rates in the region for the most outdated technology ,and please CWC quit paying our treasury double what the old BTC did .We don,t want new technology ,cheaper rates ,and more money for the treasury ,we want our birth right ,,,,,,,,,,,whaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaaaaaa whaaaaaaaaaaaa

Posted 1 October 2012, 12:11 p.m. Suggest removal

vinceP says...

BTC is still a crappy company!!! I hate their knock off 4G services in particular. My data service is ALWAYS intermittent. They are garbage!!!!!

Posted 1 October 2012, 8:40 a.m. Suggest removal

concernedcitizen says...

and in 2014 there will be compition ,if gov doesn,t take the majority back..

Posted 1 October 2012, 12:13 p.m. Suggest removal

nicolae says...

They are investing a lot of money in marketing. I hope they have great people like <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/perrybelcher">Perry Belcher</a> who is a marketing specialist and know how to use the money for a good marketing strategy.

Posted 1 January 2013, 1:13 p.m. Suggest removal

dudu says...

This is a very interesting and useful post.I think they should consult with <a href="http://trafficandconversionsummit.com/">Ryan Deiss</a> a great marketing specialist in these kind of situations.

Posted 29 January 2013, 8:28 a.m. Suggest removal

leonardo85 says...

Big investments also contain big risks but if you survey the market condition you would be able to minimize the risk factor. Focus should also be given on marketing your products and services in the right manner you would be able to reap benefits. When it comes to online business you just need the right strategies for <a href="http://drivingtraffic.com/top-7-ways-of…">making money online</a>.

Posted 1 February 2013, 5:42 a.m. Suggest removal

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