Friday, June 21, 2013
By SANCHESKA BROWN
Tribune Staff Reporter
sbrown@tribunemedia.net
PRIME MINISTER Perry Christie said yesterday there is a possibility that BTC will retain its telecommunications monopoly beyond March 2014.
Mr Christie said the idea of extending BTC dominance on the telephone market is an idea that has been thrown around in the “take back” discussions with BTC.
“Anything is a possibility. If they are saying ‘I want you to think about this for the 2 per cent’ I will think about it. But the fact of the matter is I am just being open with you and telling you the issues on the table for discussion. BTC in the meantime is going ahead with its work. I have asked the Director to please advise me on the talks about laying off a couple hundred people and closing down various things and so forth and so we are acting on behalf of 49 per cent ownership of the people of this country. It is very, very important that we do not destabilize the company by any discussions that are unparallel to their operations in the Bahamas,” he said.
“I think the negotiations will be concluded whenever I decide to have the final meeting and I have communicated to the leadership of Cable and Wireless that there is no pressure, however I am very anxious about all these dropped calls. I promised I wouldn’t talk about it, but I can’t drive without having them and so I am affected. I told them they have to prepare for liberalization, that has become an issue in our talks, the government’s agreement with Cable and Wireless is that liberalization will start at the end of March as a part of the discussions and their being able to be flexible in the way I would like them to be flexible. The question is whether I extend the time for them to still hold and extend the dates for liberalization.
“These are all issues that are on the table in my discussions. The clear point that I will not compromise on is that liberalization must happen in my time and that means I have a four year window left until the next general elections, it must happen in my time and it must settle in my time. In other words whoever is coming in as a result of liberalization, whichever company must be in and active and the Bahamian people having the benefits and part of the benefits will be competition.”
Mr Christie said he is not happy with the cellular services provided by Cable and Wireless and he has expressed his disappointment with them.
He said: “I am not happy and they know, they have given me explanations about the service but I am not happy, you cannot be happy. So there has to be an explanation for it and what I am concerned about is I own 49 per cent now and so even if I own 51 per cent and they manage it they have to be able to recognize that when a competition comes in it is a different ball game and the first instance is Bahamians like new things so lots of people may say ‘I might try this new person’ and if they are having a bad experience the competitor has a tremendous advantage.”
However, Mr Christie said BTC executives have told him they have “readied themselves” for competition.
Comments
B_I_D___ says...
I'd be very interested in the legal ramifications of this. BTC was privatized and at the time of the sale, being government owned they granted the existing monopoly. The competition, primarily Cable, have invested and geared themselves up for when that monopoly ended. To turn around and just extend the monopoly because you are hell bent on trying to get government control and corruption back into BTC, I just don't know. I suspect there would be a world of lawsuits and such if the deal took place like that, and of course, in 2017 it would all be reversed again and reprivatized.
GIVE UP!! Quit playing games with BTC and let's get on with privatizing BEC and WSC!!
Posted 21 June 2013, 1:08 p.m. Suggest removal
ThisIsOurs says...
Dropped calls? This is a joke right? The whiffle-whaffling over this 2% is because one person can't drive around without a dropped call? Has anyone been asked to gather statistics from other countries regarding the rate of dropped calls? I'm sure it's not exclusive to the Bahamas. How will dropped calls be eliminated with an added 2%, if I remember correctly this was a problem when they had 100% ownership.
*Very important that they do not destabilize the company*...letting us know that he's *promised not to talk about his dissatisfaction*... In a message to the whole country..who else is there to tell?...hmmm
@BID, I mentioned lawsuits to a friend yesterday and was told that it would be very expensive undertaking...but I don't know, this seems like one of those battles you would want to fight. It would hit right to the heart of one of your chief objectives.
Where will URCA fit...I assume they have some oversight over the deal to liberalize the industry....
What indecisiveness...What a mess....
Posted 21 June 2013, 3:41 p.m. Suggest removal
USAhelp says...
For the right price you can buy anything even your own government.
Posted 21 June 2013, 7:39 p.m. Suggest removal
TalRussell says...
Yep, I agree 100% that you can buy your government. The red shirts had the best known "foreigners" and the "kin of the original Bay Street Boys" as their price of admission? Still unsure what to make of this PLP's admission fee? Maybe careless stupidity?
Posted 21 June 2013, 9:51 p.m. Suggest removal
banker says...
It's hilarious that as a Kool Aid drinker of the current political party in power you would call this "careless stupidity" and yet if the other party did this, you would categorize this as criminality. Drinking the Kool Aid got the Bahamas in the mess that it is in back on the 10th of July, 1973.
Posted 23 June 2013, 8:59 p.m. Suggest removal
Tarzan says...
Now there is a suggestion to compound a really stupid idea. Clearly privatization is what was necessary to get innovation into our wireless service system and to get politicians out of running our public utilities. How can any rational person observe what is going on at BEC and then suggest that it would be a good idea for our politicians to be running BTC again? So our PM suggests giving BTC back to the politicians, and oh, he has an additional good idea, lets continue it as a monopoly so the government's incompetence won't be demonstrated as they lose customers to a competing privately run operation. You can't make it up.
Posted 22 June 2013, 4:25 p.m. Suggest removal
Honestman says...
What on earth is the PM saying?
I think the government has much bigger problems to deal with than trying to regain control of BTC. For heaven's sake let it go Mr. Christie and get on with the major issues of crime and the economy.
Posted 23 June 2013, 8:02 a.m. Suggest removal
John says...
First of all I think many Bahamians will be disappointed if BTC's monopoly extends beyond the 2014 date. Many persons are looking forward to competition coming into the marketplace so they can benefit from better prices, better service more product variety and at least one more option to chose a service provider. Right now BTC is a very big and hungry fish in a pool full of opportunities. It has busied itself trying to gobble up as much profits that it can before the competition arrives. This period should not be extended.
Posted 23 June 2013, 12:09 p.m. Suggest removal
bismark says...
The Bahamas needs to move forward,i like many other Bahamians welcome competition in this lucrative area,we would like to experience what other countries are having in terms of wireless communications,low prices on phones,weekend minutes,that is what i am looking forward to,we are paying too much and we need to move with the times.
Posted 24 June 2013, 10:24 a.m. Suggest removal
IloveBahamas says...
Doesn't Perry in that picture have the expression of cluelessness on his face? Tribune please add the word cloud and put in brackets "uggghhhh"???. :)
Posted 24 June 2013, noon Suggest removal
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