By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Telecommunications Company’s (BTC) long-time JFK Drive headquarters will likely be sold this year, it was revealed yesterday, as the carrier seeks to enter the data centre market.

Andre Foster, BTC’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that the disposal of its former head office was “progressing” with several parties - who he declined to identify - having expressed an interest in acquiring it.

“The JFK Drive building has a lot of persons who are interested in taking over or purchasing that facility,” he confirmed. “We have that, as well as some other properties, that are up for sale. We are progressing in the disposal of the JFK building, have a couple of parties looking at it, and probably some time this year that asset will be dropped from our books.”

Besides the former BTC headquarters building, regarded as an iconic property by many Bahamians, Mr Foster said the carrier is also seeking to sell what he referred to as “the directors’ house” in Fox Hill and a warehouse that is also located on JFK Drive directly opposite the head office.

“We’ve had some unsolicited offers on it,” he added of the warehouse. “We’ve formalised that process, and that is on the block to be sold also. These are the three we are focused on right now.”

BTC is thus selling-off real estate assets for which it no longer has any need, especially since full-time staffing levels have been slashed sharply since the 2011 privatisation. The accelerated trend to remote or home working as a result of COVID-19 is also likely to have prompted an assessment of the carrier’s property portfolio.

Meanwhile, Mr Foster said BTC was focused on getting its new Perpall Tract head office ready for when staff return to office by the end of March. Confirming that he was speaking from the new facility, he added: “We’re moving very nicely in getting the new Perpall Tract facility ready.... We expect we will officially open Perpall Tract to staff at the end of March.”

BTC employees will be engaged in “hybrid working opportunities”, splitting their time between the office and home, and Mr Foster added: “We’re really going to try and promote BTC to be one of the greatest places to work in The Bahamas.”

He also revealed BTC’s desire to establish a data centre and go head-to-head with its main rival, BISX-listed Cable Bahamas, in the only segment where the two do not currently complete. Mr Foster said BTC’s entry costs would be relatively low as much of the infrastructure and facilities required are already in place.

“We do have some aspirations,” he told Tribune Business. “There is, let’s call it, a pillar of our competitor’s business we don’t dabble in. That’s the data centre business. We have some interest in doing that, and have superior connectivity to provide for those looking for a data centre. I think you’ll see some things happening there.”

Data protection, security, back-up and disaster recovery are becoming ever-more important in a digital-driven economy, and Mr Foster said: “I’ve got a head start from an infrastructure perspective with our Poinciana facility. It’s one of the most hardened facilities in the country. I have rooms available for date centre services. It’s just a matter of developing a solution for those customers.”

As for the roll-out of 5G (fifth generation) mobile technology, Mr Foster said there could be “limited deployment” and testing occurring as early as this year. “We are doing a lot of work in preparation for 5G,” he added. “Our aspiration is that we’ll do some limited deployment as early as this year.

“There’s some work that the Government and URCA (the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority) have to do around the deployment of spectrum and everybody is waiting for the framework to be finalised. 

“From a technical perspective we’re pretty much ready to go, and eager to provide deployment in areas where we see the most benefit, such as the cruise port where people can taker advantage of 5G.”

BTC was able to reverse the post-liberalisation decline in its mobile subscriber numbers by adding a total of 1,300 new customers in the 2021 fourth quarter.

Some 900 new pre-paid, and 400 post-paid, subscribers were added during the three months to end-December 2021, according to figures published by LiLAC. BTC closed the year with some 176,400 mobile customers, divided into 143,100 pre-paid subscribers and 33,300 of the post-paid variety.

Yet, while the mobile front provided better news, BTC also lost some 2,900 “revenue generating units” or customers in other areas of its business over the same three months. Internet and TV subscribers declined by 1,200 and 100, respectively, during the 2021 fourth quarter, while fixed-line phone subscribers also fell by some 1,600.

This dropped BTC’s total non-mobile customer base to some 72,400 subscribers at year-end 2021. This was made up of 33,000 fixed-line phone clients, some 30,000 Internet subscribers and 9,400 TV customers.